Syria State TV: Over 50 Injured In Rebel Poison Gas Attack

Syrian government: Dozens wounded in ‘chemical attack’ in Aleppo

Syrian state media claimed on Saturday night that a mortar attack in West Aleppo injured dozens and that some had been treated for “toxic gases,” or chlorine chemical injuries after the attack. 

The Syrian regime said it responded to the attack, which comes amid a fragile ceasefire brokered by Turkey and Russia that is supposed to keep the front line quiet in northern Syria’s Idlib province. 

After 10 in the evening on Saturday, sources in Aleppo said they heard explosions in areas controlled by the Syrian government. SANA, the state news media, claimed that “terrorist organizations” targeted locals with “missiles containing chemical gases.” 

The attack “reaffirms the possession of terrorist organizations with toxic gases,” the report noted. RT Arabic, the Russian channel that supports Moscow and also Moscow’s Syrian regime ally, reported 55 had been injured. Sputnik news, which also supports Moscow, said the Syrian regime responded to the attack. 

The attack allegedly targeted an area called Nile Street and Al-Khalidiya in western Aleppo. Aleppo fell to the Syrian regime in the fall of 2016 after one of the most brutal and difficult battles of the Syrian civil war. The defeat of the rebellion in Aleppo was widely seen as a turning point in the conflict from which the Syrian opposition has never recovered. However, the Syrian rebels still control areas north of Aleppo and in Idlib province.

Numerous sources on social media reported the attack on Saturday evening, claiming ambulances were heard and explosions. Like everything in the Syrian conflict however, the interpretation of the events is different on both sides. While the regime, the media and its supporters claim the “terrorists” among the rebels have launched a chemical weapons attack, those on the other side pointed out that the narrative of pro-regime media has changed over the last few hours, from reporting eight killed to none killed. Video posted online showed people flooding a hospital.

Syria state TV: 50 injured in rebel poison gas attack

At least 50 civilians were being treated Saturday following a suspected poison gas attack by Syrian rebel groups on the government-held Aleppo city in the country's north, according to reports in Syrian state media.

Most of those admitted to hospitals had breathing problems and blurred vision, doctors told state TV. One doctor said two were in critical condition, including a child. State TV showed footage of medical professionals treating men and women on hospital beds.

There was a stench of gas in Aleppo city after projectiles were fired, said Rami Abdurrahman, the head of Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Rebel commanders and opposition figures discredited the government reports, denying they lobbed gas into Aleppo and accusing Damascus of seeking to undermine an existing cease-fire and efforts to kickstart political talks. Earlier Saturday, government shelling of a rebel-held area in neighboring Idlib province killed at least seven civilians.

In Aleppo city, local governor Hussein Diab visited the injured at the hospital. He told state TV that 41 people had been admitted and accused rebels of using poisonous gas in the missiles they lobbed at the Aleppo neighborhood.

Health official Haj Taha later said the number of injured was up to 50, adding that symptoms suggest the gas used was chlorine. Further tests are needed, he said.

The projectiles landed in the al-Khalidiya neighborhood, and wind caused gas to spread, Aleppo police chief Essam al-Shali told state TV. State TV later said the gas affected two other areas in the city. There are no deaths, al-Shali said.

One patient said a foul smell filled the air after projectiles were lobbed.

"There are often missiles on the city but this is the first time we smelled such a smell," the patient said without giving his name.

State TV later said government troops retaliated, hitting the source of the attack. It didn't elaborate.

A cease-fire in Aleppo and Idlib has been fraying in recent days. Aleppo has come under rebel attack in recent weeks, with missiles falling inside the city. The government has responded with counter attacks on rebel-held areas in the Aleppo countryside.

Earlier Saturday, rescue works and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government shells landed in Jarjanaz, a rebel-held town in Idlib province, hitting students as they were leaving their school. The shelling killed eight, including six children, according to the civil defense team in the opposition-held area.

The opposition fighters don't have chemical weapons or the means to lab them, rebel commander Abdel-Salam Abdel-Razek said. On Twitter, he accused the government of staging the attack to frame the rebels.

Rebel spokesman Musafa Sejari said the government is seeking to undermine the cease-fire deal.

In the absence of independent monitors, it is difficult to corroborate gas attacks. But both sides of the conflict have accused each other throughout the war of using poison gas.

A joint team from the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons accused Syria's government of using chlorine gas in at least two attacks in 2014 and 2015, and the nerve agent sarin in an attack in April 2017 in the town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed about 100 people. The U.S. launched a series of strikes on Syrian government sites in retaliation for the attack in Khan Sheikhoun.

The UN-OPCW team also accused the Islamic State extremist group of using mustard gas twice in 2015 and 2016.