Suspected Aleppo chlorine attack chokes
dozens, rescue workers, monitors say
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[September 07, 2016]
BEIRUT (Reuters) - A suspected
chlorine gas attack on an opposition-held neighborhood in the Syrian
city of Aleppo caused dozens of cases of suffocation on Tuesday, rescue
workers and a monitoring group said.
The Syrian Civil Defence, a rescue workers' organization that operates
in rebel-held areas, said government helicopters had dropped barrel
bombs containing chlorine on the Sukari neighborhood in eastern Aleppo.
The Syrian government has denied previous accusations it used chemical
weapons during the five-year-old civil war. The Syrian army could not be
immediately reached for comment on the latest allegations.
The Civil Defence said on its Facebook page that 80 people had
suffocated. It reported no deaths. It posted a video showing wheezing
children doused in water using oxygen masks to breathe.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks
Syrian violence using sources on the ground, said medical sources had
reported 70 cases of suffocation.
A United Nations and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons inquiry seen by Reuters last month found that Syrian government
forces were responsible for two toxic gas attacks in 2014 and 2015
involving chlorine.
The Civil Defence accused the government of two other suspected chlorine
gas attacks in August . The United Nations Commission of Inquiry on
Syria said it was investigating an August incident.
"Unimaginable crimes are occurring in Aleppo ... pro-government aerial
bombardments cause mass civilian casualties," Commission Chairman Paulo
Pinheiro told reporters in Geneva. "In government-held areas,
indiscriminate ground shelling (by) armed groups ... is also killing
scores of civilians," he added.
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A still image taken on September 7, 2016 from a video posted on
social media said to be shot in Aleppo's Al Sukari on September 6,
2016, shows a civil defense member making his way through debris,
after a suspected chlorine gas attack, Syria. Social Media via
Reuters TV
Aleppo has been one of the areas hardest hit by escalating violence
in recent months after the collapse of a partial truce brokered by
the United States and Russia in February.
Government forces put eastern Aleppo under siege on Sunday for a
second time since July after advancing against rebels on the city's
outskirts. The city has long been divided between government and
opposition areas of control.
The Syrian conflict has killed more than 250,000 people and forced
more than 11 million from their homes.
(Reporting by John Davison; additional reporting by Stephanie
Nebehay in Geneva.; Editing by Larry King)
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