A Canadian political commentator says it is very much unlikely that the Syrian government launched a chemical weapons attack against the insurgents in the country since its military had the upper hand in its fighting against them.

“This whole gas attack is highly suspicious because if you look at who benefits from it, it is clearly not the government of Syria or the people of Syria,” said Edward Corrigan, a journalist, political commentator, and lawyer.

 He asked that why should Damascus carry out such an attack when its military was apparently “winning the ground war.”

Corrigan added that there has been “substantial evidence” that foreign-backed militants were behind last week’s chemical weapons attack which killed many civilians outside the Syrian capital, Damascus.

“I have seen reports that the Russians have satellite imagery showing the rockets were fired from rebel-held territory,” he explained.

“Clearly the Syrian government had many reasons not to do it and the rebels who have apparently been losing the war are trying to find a pretext for some sort of Western intervention,” Corrigan said.

He went on to add that there is “a lot of divisions in the United States” regarding a military action against Syria.

“A majority of the people in the US -- 60 percent -- are opposed to a military intervention into Syria.”