[doctorzlo]

Why incredible? It is a fact that Egypt used chemical weapons in Yemen 1961-2. It is a fact that Libya used chemical weapons in its war with Chad. It is a fact that Iran and Iraq used chemical weapons against each other.

What about this story makes it incredible? For years the Syrians have been experimenting with improved dry chemical agents as second generation to their original wet agents research. Today French pharmaceutical and chemical companies own a 25% interest in such dual-use technologies in Syria. I would have to guess though that the Syrians were working with the Sudanese more for their own benefit than for the Sudanese. They probably wanted to give their military some real world experience with using chemical weapons in the field against a small population that probably wouldn't shoot back at them. To the Sudanese it was probably a "try before you buy" event to see how these things work.