The White House claims that the Syrian army has used chemical weapons:

Newsclick discusses with Vijay Prashad the current developments on Syrian crisis. Arms supplies by the Western powers to the rebels have gone up and their allies are taking up more aggressive positions on Syria. There are attempts being made by the Western media to create an environment which would find a justification for a military intervention in Syria.

Bouthaina Shaaban, Political and Media Advisor to Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, addressed a talk hosted by the Centre for Policy Analysis on the Syrian crisis. Newsclick presents the video of the talk. Shaaban says there are multifaceted factors responsible for the crisis. She says the expulsion of Syria from the Arab League has caused huge damage. The arming of Syrian rebels has still not abated. Every passing day is a tragedy with 2 million people already displaced, thousands killed and many more orphaned. Syria is being infused with sectarian beliefs and language, which is destroying the secular foundations of the system. Shaaban sees in Syrian crisis a whole design for the entire region. She hopes countries like India would be more pro-active at the upcoming BRICS meeting in South Africa in pressing for a non-military intervention in Syria.

The Islamist Syrian insurgent group that had kidnapped some Philippine UN peacekeepers and is also responsible for murdering a number of captured Syrian army soldiers has evidently received modern weapons through the U.S. led additional arming of the insurgency.

Regime change in Syria, always on the agenda of imperialist and divisive forces in West Asia, is now accelerating.

"How would you cry when the spears of the enemies are broken on your waist?

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was unequivocal in her condemnation.  “We have confronted the Russians about stopping their continued arms shipments to Syria,” she said in remarks earlier this year.  “