> These reports make no such conclusion - that the Syrian government was responsible for the attack.
They can be used to make a conclusion. We don't need the mandate, and we can think for ourselves, no? In both cases the munitions were reportedly dropped from the air. Once from the airplane, and second time from helicopters.
https://medium.com/@Brian_Whit/opcws-douma-investigation-poi...
Rebel groups don't have airplanes or heliopters, so Khan-Sheikoun attack was most likely made by the Assad regime. Douma can be speculated about somewhat more, but dropping the chlorine containers from the air was not excluded, and was quite likely, based on previous documented droppings of chlorine canisters from helicopters, that used the same mounting technology.
It was also not unprecedentend, dropping chlorine canisters from helicoters by Assad regime was docummneted previously on multiple occasions. The same canisters, and mounting technology for dropping from helicopters. The same goes for Sarin use. (look up other Sarin uses OPCW investigated)
https://www.gppi.net/2019/02/17/the-logic-of-chemical-weapon...
I mean what's so surprising about this? Assad regime has been procuring chemical weapons for decades. They do it just for fun? It's a very expensive hobby.
> Indeed, the Syrian government themselves requested this mission proceed to determine the use of these chemical weapons - why would they do that if they knew they'd used the chemical weapons?
How would I know.
You can obviously kill people and request an inestigation at the same time. There's nothing that prevents that.
It's pointless to speculate on motives. But hey: Because they don't care? Because nothing's gonna happen anyway? Because they were scared of non-cooperation? Because Russia wanted them to? Because it's good optics in the war propaganda - it seems like they have nothing to hide? Calculated risk? (noone's gonna invade them for chlorine use, and they would have had to know that Sarin was not used in Douma, so why not?)
Even if Sarin would have been used, most likely nothing would have happened to them, like many times before. There were several other recent Sarin uses that went unpunished. US is not there for a regime change, and Assad has an upper hand, except for Idlib, and SDF areas. Chemicals are a great weapon for terrorizing civilian population. So why not use them after calculating some risks?
Just look at some WWI documentaries. People/leaders can get completely crazy under a war situation, and justify pretty much anything - even sacrificing almost 30000 soldiers in one day in pointless attacks. It's pointless to speculate on motives now.