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A poisonous gas attack left more than 100 people hospitalized in Aleppo, a city controlled by the government, reported Sunday the official Syrian news agency.
A hundred people were injured Saturday in a toxic gas attack against the government-controlled city of Aleppo, according to Syrian state media and a human rights group based in Britain.
The attack has not been clearly identified, but the official Syrian news agency has quoted a local commander for blaming "terrorist groups", while Russia accuses activists of firing mortar containing chlorine on the northwestern districts of the city.
Nasr al-Hariri, the leader of the Syrian opposition negotiating delegation in Geneva, told Saudi television channel al-Hadath, Saudi, that the attack on Aleppo originated from a controlled area by Iranian pro-regime militias.
On Twitter he wrote that "The regime and its allies use this as an excuse to launch a military operation in northern Syria."
The attack reported in Aleppo is the first since Russia and Turkey agreed to establish a demilitarized zone in rebel-controlled Idlib province, according to the Syrian Observatory of Rights of the human (SOHR) based in the United Kingdom.
Rights groups said that an investigation into the attack was needed and called on Russia and Syria to allow a neutral third party to review it.
"Serious reports of suspicions of chemical weapons attacks should not be left without investigation," Lama Fakih, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, told Human Rights. Watch.
"All parties, including the Syrian government and Russia, should facilitate an investigation by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on the alleged attack in Aleppo, which reportedly affected dozens of people. , including children. All parties should stop the use of prohibited weapons and attacks against civilians. "
The Syrian army reacted by bombarding the source of the attack, SANA reported, without providing additional details. Russian fighter planes have reached targets of Syrian rebels, the state-run news agency RIA-Novosti reported.
Toxic air
According to the SOHR, 94 civilians, including dozens of children, have been asphyxiated as a result of the toxic gas attack in Aleppo. The group said that explosions were heard as shells fell on the west side of the city.
Citing hospital sources, SANA reported that 107 people were injured in the gas attack, of mild to moderate severity.
Russian official media also reported injuries resulting from the attack, indicating that 46 people, including eight children, had been exposed to gas. She added that Russian chemical weapons experts had been deployed to help the city's residents affected by the events.
Other gas attacks
The attack, if confirmed, would not be the first time that gas would be used in the Syrian conflict.
In May, several groups of Syrian activists announced that a brutal gas attack on the remains of the rebel-dominated city of Duma in Ghouta East had claimed the lives of dozens of civilians. and made many wounded.
The groups – including the White Helmets, the Duma Coordinating Committee and the Ghouta Media Center – said the toxic gas contained in the barrels of bombs dropped by helicopters over Duma had caused suffocation and the suffocation of the population.
The Syrian news agency SANA, quoted by an "official source", denied the accusations, saying that the Syrian Arab army "does not need to use chemicals, contrary to what the media affiliated with media".
In April 2017, more than 80 people were killed in a sarin attack on the rebel-controlled Khan Sheikhoun town. This attack prompted the United States to launch 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian air base.
A joint report by the United Nations and international chemical weapons inspectors determined last October that the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad was responsible for the attack.
Syria has repeatedly denied having any connection whatsoever with the attack and denied having chemical weapons. Damascus said an air strike had hit a chemical weapons depot in the rebel-controlled area.
First attack since the creation of the buffer zone
Announcing the demilitarization agreement in September, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the creation of a demilitarized zone of 15 to 20 km would avert a "humanitarian crisis" "in the northwestern province.
However, regime and rebel bombings killed and injured dozens of civilians and militants, according to SOHR.
The Syrian regime has regained control of much of the country in recent years, but Idlib has remained a bastion of rebel support.
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