A UN expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical attack, Damascus, August 29, 2013. © REUTERS/ Mohamed Abdullah
Syrian Forces May Have Used Gas Without Assad's Permission: Paper -- Reuters
(Reuters) - Syrian government forces may have carried out a chemical weapons attack close to Damascus without the personal permission of President Bashar al-Assad, Germany's Bild am Sonntag paper reported on Sunday, citing German intelligence.
Syrian brigade and division commanders had been asking the Presidential Palace to allow them to use chemical weapons for the last four-and-a-half months, according to radio messages intercepted by German spies, but permission had always been denied, the paper said.
This could mean Assad may not have personally approved the attack close to Damascus on August 21 in which more than 1,400 are estimated to have been killed, intelligence officers suggested.
Germany's foreign intelligence agency (BND) could not be reached for comment.
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Update: Syria Chemical Weapons Attack ‘Not Ordered’ by Assad – Report -- RIA Novosti
My Comment: This is a plausible theory, but I suspect that we will never learn the truth unless someone within Assad's inner circle defects and/or the Assad regime loses the war.