A chemical attack has killed at least 35 people including nine children with many more wounded after air strikes released “toxic gas” that caused civilians to choke to death in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib.
Medical sources reported that some victims had foam coming out of their mouths and described it as a sign of a gas attack.
Syrian activists have released pictures and footage of people suffocating to death in the alleged chemical attack in Idlib. Most of the images are too graphic for publication.
Some of the photos showed members of the volunteer White Helmets rescue group using hoses to wash down the injured, as well as at least two men with white foam around their mouths.
The activist-run Assi Press published video of paramedics carrying victims from the scene by a pick-up truck. The victims were stripped down to their underwear. Many appeared unresponsive.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said dozens suffered respiratory problems in the attack, and most of the dead and injured were civilians. Hospitals are reportedly overcrowded with casualties affected by the chemicals.
The nature of the substance has not yet been confirmed. It is also unclear who the planes involved in the attack belonged to.
Syrian government or Russian jets pounded the town of Khan Sheikhoun in rebel-held Idib on Monday morning, the Britain-based war monitoring group said. The Syrian army could not immediately be reached for comment.
Pro-opposition Orient News television said the strikes had killed 50 people and injured more than 150.
The reported gas attack comes at the start of a two-day conference on Syria’s future hosted in Brussels by the European Union and the United Nations.
Idlib province is largely controlled by an alliance of rebels including former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front.
It is regularly targeted in strikes by the regime, as well as Russian warplanes, and has also been hit by the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group, usually targeting jihadists.
Syria’s government officially joined the Chemical Weapons Convention and turned over its chemical arsenal in 2013, as part of a deal to avert US military action.
But there have been repeated allegations of chemical weapons used by the government since then, with a UN-led investigation pointing the finger at the regime for at least three chlorine attacks in 2014 and 2015.
The government denies the use of chemical weapons and has in turn accused rebels of using banned weapons.
Tuesday’s attack comes only days after forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad were accused of using chemical weapons in a counteroffensive in neighbouring Hama province.
The opposition accused the government forces of using “toxic substances” in its battle to repel the assault.
On Thursday, air strikes on several areas in the north of Hama province left around 50 people suffering respiratory problems, according to the Observatory, which could not confirm the cause of the symptoms.
The monitor relies on a network of sources inside Syria for its information, says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to type, location, flight patterns and munitions used.
More than 320,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.
Tuesday’s gathering in Brussels has been billed as a follow-up to a donors’ conference last year in London, which raised about $11 billion for humanitarian aid programs in the devastated country
— With wires
This article was originally published in news.com.au