La Stampa veteran war correspondent, Domenico Quirico, who was kidnapped by "rebels" last April and was recently freed, said he heard a Skype conversation in English by three unnamed people through a partially open door, one of whom claimed to be a general of the Syrian Liberation Army, while being held hostage by the "rebels."
Dominico Quirico:
During the Skype conversation, they said that the gas attack on the two neighbourhoods in Damascus had been carried out by rebels as a provocation, to push the West towards a military intervention. They also said they believed the death toll had been exaggerated.
Quirico cautioned that he could not verify the veracity of what he heard, because he did not know who was speaking and could not vouch for their knowledge of the situation.
Pierre Piccicin, a Belgian teacher, abducted with Quirico, said:
It is not the government of Bashar al-Assad that has used sarin gas or another chemical weapon in the suburb of Damascus. We are certain of that following a conversation that we had come upon.
Jonathan Alpeyrie, another journalist held hostage by the rebels back in April of this year for 81 days also believes that jihadist rebels were behind the August 21 CW attack in Ghouta.
He pointed out that there was no motive for Assad to foolishly "cross the red line" by gassing his own people as he was winning at that point and had nothing to gain and everything to lose, because his use of CW would trigger American intervention. He also pointed out that eyewitnesses interviewed in Ghouta reported that rebels had been provided with chemical weapons.