The neocons are not about to give up and admit defeat. Due primarily to Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah, the presence of the Islamic State is now considerably reduced in Syria. 

This is, of course, unacceptable for the neocons and Trump’s State Department, so last week Sec. State Pompeo accused Syria once again of using chemical weapons. 

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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the United States had concluded the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria had used chlorine as a chemical weapon in a May attack as part of its battle for Idlib. More here: https://t.co/NJYi7P2MCp pic.twitter.com/y8XhGtUsNp

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) September 27, 2019

Right on par, Sen. Lindsay Graham inserted himself. 

Unbelievable Bashar al Assad would use chemical weapons again as reported by State Department.

Clearly we have lost deterrence when it comes to Assad. Time for the world to stand up and be counted in opposition to barbaric actions like this. https://t.co/4UXbNI1nKa

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) September 27, 2019

There is no evidence this incident occurred. This is the case with all of the supposed chemical attacks in Syria. 

From The Guardian, May 22, 2019. 

The use of chlorine was alleged by the Idlib province health directorate but has not been corroborated by monitoring groups or international media. No casualties were reported in the mountainous area, where most residents have fled because of fighting… Morgan Ortagus, a state department spokesman, said in a statement on Tuesday: “We are still gathering information on [Sunday’s] incident, but we repeat our warning that if the Assad regime uses chemical weapons, the United States and our allies will respond quickly and appropriately.”

Pompeo sat on the flimsy allegation for months. It is of use now because the State Department has decided once again to turn up the heat on Iran, this time for supposedly attempting to deliver a large tanker of oil to Syria. 

Despite Iran FM Zarif’s promise to the UK that the #AdrianDarya1 would not deliver oil to Syria, it is now transferring oil off the Syrian coast. Will the world hold Iran accountable if this oil is delivered to Syria? pic.twitter.com/z5Ra41n43u

— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) October 2, 2019

FM @JZarif guaranteed to the UK that the IRGC oil tanker #Grace1 / #AdrianDarya1 would not head to Syria. We have reliable information that the tanker is underway and headed to Tartus, Syria. I hope it changes course. It was a big mistake to trust Zarif. pic.twitter.com/ZJ06MWjvCO

— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) August 30, 2019

Pompeo’s remarks alarmed Tanker Trackers, a service that tracks tanker activity with leading satellite and maritime tracking technology companies. 

Due to the tweet below, we‘ve decided to end our public coverage of the #AdrianDarya1. As of now, our continued coverage will only be available to our Premium subscribers. This was a misuse of our brand and damage to our reputation. Apologies & thx.https://t.co/v17snXC5n2

— TankerTrackers.com, Inc.⚓️