The town in Syria where the recent gas attack took place is Khan Sheikhoun, which is currently under the control of the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or HTS. This group was formerly known as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, before that as Jabhat al-Nusra, and originally as "al-Qaeda in Syria".

It is astounding to see that the USA spent the last sixteen years and Trillions of dollars fighting al-Qaeda world-wide yet all of a sudden, when a re-branded al-Quaeda fragment claims a Syrian government fighter plane dropped gas in their area, Americans believe them and, spurred on by the media, proceed to fall over themselves condemning the Syrian government, and cheering when the USA bombs a Syrian government airbase.

Apparently all it takes is some footage and photos from the propaganda division of the HTS, the White Helmets, of dead children with no clear and unbiased evidence in either direction on who caused it. Even the “doctor” who narrated the most popular videos regarding the victims of the attack, Mr. Shajul Islam, was considered a "committed jihadist" by MI6 and was struck off the British General Medical Council in 2016.

Since the first day of the war, the war chant of ISIS and the FSA both, has been:
 “ علوي ع تابوت، مسيحي ع بيروت ”
This means: “alawites will be buried, Christians [forced] to Beirut”.
And yet these are the people who are generally supported by the governments (though mainly not the people) of the west.

Interestingly, Syria and Russia both state that a conventional airstrike bombed a warehouse which was being used as an ammo dump/missile factory by HTS, which (if true) seems to have been a rebel manufacturing plant for chemical weapons.

It is also interesting that the British claim that rebels could not possibly manufacture Sarin due to its instability - this is ludicrous. Trawlers in the North Sea occasionally dredge up sunken WW2 German nerve gas canisters (sunk by the allies after the war), and they are still incredibly toxic and dangerous. As one of the governments that have consistently pushed for regime change, it is inconceivable that an employee of Britain’s Porton Down chemical warfare research establishment would speak on such a matter without being briefed on what could and couldn’t be said.

Even more interestingly, the organisation Swedish Doctors For Human Rights analysed the video footage put out by rebels and noticed that not only were medical procedures used that were completely counter to medical standards, but that at several points, the people being filmed were being given stage directions in Arabic.

We KNOW that several rebel groups have stocks of nerve gas and other toxic gases, and have used them against both Syrian government forces, and civilians.  Russia has repeatedly reported such attacks to the UN OPCW, but that information has been utterly ignored by the media. In particular, HTS (al-Nusra) had been stocking up on Sarin components in Turkey since at least mid-2013.

UN reports show that the sarin gas used by rebels in attacks since 2013 was sourced from Libyan CBW stocks, manufactured on US/UK equipment (based on trace components used in manufacture). Sarin gas and manufacturing chemicals were and are smuggled into Syria by rebels through Turkey via well-developed smuggling routes.

Syria used to manufacture its own chemical weapons on Soviet-made equipment until the early 1990’s. This was seized by Russia after the first accusation of gas attacks and all CBW stockpiles were destroyed under UN supervision, as reported by the UN OPCW and the US State Dept.

Though Syria is certainly not a democracy, baby steps are being taken in that direction, such as the fact Syria’s government held an election against an actual opposing party in 2014, even offering to let people in non-government-controlled areas vote, which the rebels and ISIS bluntly refused to allow.

The fact there was only one other candidate while many more applied, is where you can see the ruling party being idiotically over-selective and undemocratic. However, most critics of the Syrian election of 2014 instead focused on the fact that the elections were held amidst a war going on. Which is ironic- if there HADN'T been any elections, wouldn't that be worse?

However the point stands: the 2014 election DOES prove that Assad and his government are supported by the majority in the areas that could vote, which hold the vast bulk of the Syrian population.

There were situations where people genuinely wanted change and wanted and end to corruption, unemployment, political repression etc. In cases such as in Syria (or Libya) there is documented evidence the "protesters" had outside organizing from the very beginning and that it was planned to overthrow the government, as the protestors received weapon supplies almost immediately.

With both Libya and Syria after the initial fighting broke out Assad and Gaddafi both signalled they were willing to have large and significant reforms on the lines of what many people wanted, but by then it was already too late because governments opposed to them were already hugely helping the rebels and so, fighting continued to this day.

The situation is different in every country in the Middle-East and back in 2010/2011 the people of pretty much every country in the region had good reasons to complain and demand change, but peaceful resolution of those demands was ruined because of western intelligence agencies’ obsession with using protests in non-western countries as a vehicle for regime change.

It beggars belief that just days after the US president stated that regime change is off the table in Syria, and the Syrian Army has finally broken the stalemate and is advancing on all fronts against the joint forces of ISIS and the rebels, that the Syrian government would authorise the use of chemical weapons in a strike against civilians, and therefore anger it’s patron Russia, cause international condemnation, and risk the possibility of a US/NATO invasion and for what?

What would the use of chemical weapons gain Syria at this point? It would have been understandable, even if stupid, for the government to have used Sarin back in 2013 when it looked like the rebel-ISIS alliance was mere months away from taking control of the country. But Russia’s entry into the war, and it’s assistance of weapon shipments and airstrikes turned the tide against the jihadists. Syria’s position now is immeasurably better than it was then- it holds more ground, it protects more of the population, the opposition is on the retreat all over the country, and the global community (excluding neo-colonialist Britain and France) has come to realise that Assad remaining in power is Syria’s best chance at future peace and stability for the nation, if not the region.

I know what a few of you reading this are thinking:
"Hurr I don’t like what you’re saying. CNN said it was Assad! Where did you get your data from, infowars?"

No, not even close.

https://youtu.be/e-8c2MOjbiY
The rest of my sources can be found listed here, since it’s too long a list to post on FB on a single post (if you want to spread this):
https://pastebin.com/Ukua2kwY

----------
1.	The United Nations weapons inspectors who examined CBRN attack sites in Syria in 2013:
https://youtu.be/e-8c2MOjbiY
http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/68/663

2.	The report on the 2013 attacks written by one of the weapon inspectors and an MIT professor:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1006045/possible-implications-of-bad-intelligence.pdf

3.	The analysis of the report the UN published at the time:
https://web.archive.org/web/20150713210711/http://web.mit.edu/sts/Analysis%20of%20the%20UN%20Report%20on%20Syria%20CW.pdf

4.	The UN's Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons declared the last items of Syrian chemical warfare stocks destroyed after their seizure by Russia in 2013.
https://www.opcw.org/news/article/destruction-of-syrian-chemical-weapons-completed/

5.	Contemporary news reports explaining the facts in normal English: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/05/us-syria-crisis-un-idUSBRE94409Z20130505
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10039672/UN-accuses-Syrian-rebels-of-chemical-weapons-use.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2320223/UN-accuses-Syrian-rebels-carrying-sarin-gas-attacks-blamed-Assads-troops.html
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/6/syrian-rebels-used-sarin-nerve-gas-not-assads-regi/

6.	News reports from Turkey showing that sarin gas and gas–manufacturing components are being smuggled through turkey to Syria:
http://anfenglish.com/features/sarin-gas-delivered-to-al-nusra-from-turkey
https://twitter.com/stevensotloff/status/340144057743450112
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/turkey-youtube-ban-full-transcript-leaked-syria-war-conversation-between-erdogan-officials-1442161
http://www.todayszaman.com/national_chp-deputies-govt-rejects-probe-into-turkeys-role-in-syrian-chemical-attack_402180.html
http://www.globalresearch.ca/turkish-whistleblowers-corroborate-story-on-false-flag-sarin-attack-in-syria/5483982
http://kurdishquestion.com/index.php/kurdistan/north-kurdistan/turkish-state-knew-of-sarin-gas-delivered-to-al-nusra-from-turkey/1196-turkish-state-knew-of-sarin-gas-delivered-to-al-nusra-from-turkey.html
Turkey indicted 11 persons linked with Syrian militants who were caught with sarin gas:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQYCat55dgc
http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/turkish-lawmakers-ankara-tied-to-use-of-sarin-in-syria/
https://www.rt.com/news/325825-sarin-gas-syria-turkey/

7.	Evidence Russia reported chemical attacks by rebels and that it was not investigated by the OPCW:
https://www.rt.com/news/370653-syria-chemical-aleppo-militants-opcw/
http://www.dw.com/en/russia-delivers-report-to-un-citing-chemical-weapons-use-by-syrian-rebels/a-16939650
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24140475
http://www.euronews.com/2016/11/11/russia-calls-for-international-inspection-in-aleppo-over-evidence-syrian-rebels
http://www.euronews.com/2013/07/10/russia-claims-evidence-of-chemical-weapons-use-by-syrian-rebels
https://www.rt.com/news/367797-lavrov-chemical-weapons-aleppo/

8.	HTS identity and previous names:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahrir_al-Sham
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38934206

9.	Specific evidence of HTS possessing Sarin:
https://twitter.com/stevensotloff/status/340144057743450112
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-316966-report-police-foil-al-nusra-bomb-attack-planned-for-adana.html

10.	Syrian airstrike hit an alleged rebel weapons store:
http://ahtribune.com/world/north-africa-south-west-asia/syria-crisis/1591-syria-hits-rebel-chemical-stockpile.html
http://tass.com/world/939417
http://theduran.com/confirmed-chemical-weapons-in-idlib-were-stashed-by-terrorists/
https://www.rt.com/news/383522-syria-idlib-warehouse-strike-chemical/
Claims that airstrike hit warehouse which (unknown to Syrian forces) contained chemical weapons;
http://ahtribune.com/world/north-africa-south-west-asia/syria-crisis/1591-syria-hits-rebel-chemical-stockpile.html
http://tass.com/world/939417
http://theduran.com/confirmed-chemical-weapons-in-idlib-were-stashed-by-terrorists/
https://www.rt.com/news/383522-syria-idlib-warehouse-strike-chemical/

11.	White Helmets are a propaganda unit, not rescuers:
http://www.mintpressnews.com/AX-of-gas-attack-say-saudis-supplied-rebels-with-chemical-weapons/168135/
http://www.globalresearch.ca/syrias-white-helmets-ngo-soft-power-and-war-propaganda-the-moderate-terrorists-myth-exposed/5485128
http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/how-white-helmets-became-international-heroes-while-pushing-us-military
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/06/the-usuk-financed-white-helmets-shtick-fake-child-rescued-videos.html
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/08/the-wounded-boy-in-orange-seat-another-staged-white-helmets-stunt.html
https://youtu.be/k_bObdZhqyE?t=152
http://www.mintpressnews.com/us-funded-ngo-in-syria-uses-old-photo-to-claim-civilian-deaths-in-russian-airstrikes/210027/
http://news.antiwar.com/2015/09/30/us-funded-ngo-in-syria-uses-old-photo-to-claim-civilian-death-in-russian-airstrikes/
https://southfront.org/us-funded-ngo-in-syria-uses-old-photo-to-claim-civilian-death-in-russian-airstrikes/
http://www.globalresearch.ca/how-ngos-support-us-nato-israel-military-agenda-in-syria-under-a-fake-humanitarian-mandate/5354613
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1de_1475793587
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LTud83JF7Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOz0jt_wA8w

12.	Swedish Doctors For Human Rights (swedhr.org) analysis of the "rescue" after the alleged attack:
https://youtu.be/WAxg9_T-W7Y
https://southfront.org/swedish-medical-associations-says-white-helmets-murdered-kids-for-fake-gas-attack-videos/

13.	Claims of Syrian government use of gas don’t add up:
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2017/04/04/idlib-gas-attack-is-same-old-bs-as-before/25/
Ex-UK Ambassador: Assad wasn't behind the chemical attack: https://youtu.be/pS6Oa_aDS6E
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/jumping-conclusions-something-not-adding-idlib-chemical-weapons-attack/

14.	Foreign involvement in Syria – the case for gas:
https://in.news.yahoo.com/us-backed-plan-launch-chemical-weapon-attack-syria-045648224.html
http://www.globalresearch.ca/turkish-whistleblowers-corroborate-story-on-false-flag-sarin-attack-in-syria/5483982
http://web.archive.org/web/20130129213824/http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2270219/U-S-planned-launch-chemical-weapon-attack-Syria-blame-Assad.html
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n08/seymour-m-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line

15.	Evidence the rebels were armed from the very beginning in 2011 and had foreign support:
https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/emailid/18328#efmADMAFf
http://www.handsoffsyriasydney.com/articles/daraa-2011-syrias-islamist-insurrection-in-disguise/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/05/world/middleeast/05syria.html?_r=0
http://www.gettyimages.nl/pictures/ahmad-al-sayasneh-the-imam-of-the-al-omari-mosque-in-daraa-news-photo-141769987
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-gunfire-idUSTRE72M04T20110323
http://thebricspost.com/an-eyewitness-to-the-syrian-rebellion-father-frans-in-his-own-words/#.VjCXjG95Yrj
http://www.trans-int.com/wordpress/index.php/2014/04/14/father-frans-on-the-syrian-rebellion-the-protestors-shot-first/
http://www.globalresearch.ca/daraa-2011-syrias-islamist-insurrection-in-disguise/5460547
https://consortiumnews.com/2015/07/20/hidden-origins-of-syrias-civil-war/

16.	More evidence of foreign support for the Syrian rebels:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_Syria
http://journal-neo.org/2015/10/12/us-senate-hearing-discusses-using-refugees-as-human-shields-in-syria/
http://www.ecowatch.com/syria-another-pipeline-war-1882180532.html
https://consortiumnews.com/2015/07/20/hidden-origins-of-syrias-civil-war/
http://warontherocks.com/2016/08/washingtons-sunni-myth-and-the-civil-wars-in-syria-and-iraq/
http://warontherocks.com/2016/08/washingtons-sunni-myth-and-the-middle-east-undone/
http://dissidentvoice.org/2015/10/the-arab-spring-made-in-the-usa/
http://readersupportednews.org/pm-section/135-135/19691-cia-made-the-arab-spring
http://www.thelastamericanvagabond.com/anonymous/arab-spring-and-the-business-of-cia-funded-revolutions/
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dylan-evans/the-arab-spring-and-the-cia_b_1246230.html
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jun/01/trial-swedish-man-accused-terrorism-offences-collapse-bherlin-gildo
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/07/brits-saudis-lobby-for-syria-rebels.html
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/615006/Saudi-prince-arrested-drugs-ISIS-Syrian-rebels-private-jet-Captagon
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2014/07/08/us-backed-moderate-free-syrian-army-factions-join-islamic-state-terror-group/
http://www.globalresearch.ca/logistics-101-where-does-isis-get-its-guns/5454726
https://en.zamanalwsl.net/readNews.php?id=5696
http://news.antiwar.com/2016/06/21/israeli-intel-chief-we-dont-want-isis-defeated-in-syria/
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vg.no%2Fnyheter%2Futenriks%2Fforsvaret%2Fdette-er-syria-gruppen-norske-spesialstyrker-skal-trene%2Fa%2F23701334%2F
https://youtu.be/GoFN6DztpZ8
https://youtu.be/jVavSHSAN48

17.	The "moderate" rebels are using child soldiers, and are incredibly brutal;
http://www.salon.com/2016/07/11/u_s_backed_syrian_rebels_committing_war_crimes_torture_abductions_imposing_harsh_sharia_law_report/
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=53d_1468933837
https://twitter.com/HKX07/status/755375255422578688
https://twitter.com/Souria4Syrians/status/772104619409469440
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/graphic-islamist-rebels-behead-two-captive-syrian-soldiers-pictures/
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/its-time-we-heard-the-truth-about-how-ruthless-aleppo-rebels-shot-civilians-who-tried-to-leave-35292807.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24486627
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Vc48uAlpGw
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adra_massacre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maan_massacre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qalb_Loze_massacre
https://twitter.com/HKX07/status/755375255422578688
The USA is backing the "moderate" rebels.
Therefore, USA is supporting the use of child soldiers
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/06/use-child-soldiers-syria-condemned-20146237583974800.html
https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/06/22/syria-armed-groups-send-children-battle
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/23/world/meast/hrw-child-soldiers/
http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/syrian-rebels-are-forging-child-soldiers-into-killing-machines
http://www.dw.com/en/hrw-syrian-rebels-recruiting-child-soldiers/a-17729251
http://humanrightsinvestigations.org/2012/12/09/child-soldiers-syria-rebels-widespread/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sPY0X8SrLo

18.	Assad is popular with the majority of the Syrian people, the rebels are not:
http://www.pbs.org/video/2365592857/
Straight from the horses mouth- on-the-ground info from a nonpartisan source in Aleppo:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1683203141697250&id=100000227403674&hc_location=ufi
https://www.facebook.com/andrew.ashdown.9/posts/1683203141697250
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/syriac-catholic-patriarch-warns-western-politicians-and-media-mislead-world/
http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160406/1037597682/alawite-leader-response-bbc-claims.html
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/13821
https://youtu.be/TV--YrUT0EE
https://youtu.be/hl_pgTsq4tg
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/aug/21/syrian-rebels-aleppo-local-hostility
http://shoebat.com/2016/12/26/while-isis-rebels-slaughter-christians-syrian-president-asad-visits-christians-and-celebrates-christmas-with-them-at-a-monastery/
Syrian woman talks about the liberation of Aleppo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhL8D0wYevo
Canadian journalist Eva Bartlett exposes media lies about Syria: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AisvBNXPdG8
Aleppo, Syria: celebrations as people return to their homes: https://youtu.be/G0M7Xm4nEBU
https://youtu.be/786YJ2fslcY
https://twitter.com/RanaHarbi/status/811284489007755264
https://www.facebook.com/United.Syrian.Republic/videos/1910538615846963/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f76mFHu1iDc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L_4uAA0CGI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhL8D0wYevo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxwXU4vhrZE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiB9gZ5WADg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN1tmKHBQ1g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUVoJYYQRQ8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VZjUGqjSyU

19.	Victim narration doctor is a jihadist:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/british-doctor-who-documented-chemical-attack-previously-held-terror-offences-1615849

20.	Here are further links to evidence regarding chemical weapons use in Syria prior to the Idlib incident, as well as information regarding the Syrian conflict in general:
https://syriagenerals.wordpress.com/must-read-documents/chemical-weapons-resource-page/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSelGrgxKyKFrugrfns3FBA/featured