United Nations investigators on Tuesday said aerial bombardment by Syrian forces and their ally Russian Federation were mostly to blame for swelling numbers of civilian casualties in Syria’s devastating conflict.
The so-called Syrian Civil Defense, which operates in militant-controlled areas, also claimed that Syrian helicopters dropped barrel bombs containing chlorine. The document stated that at least 71 people – including 37 children and 10 women – were treated for breathing difficulties, dry cough, and that the clothes they arrived in smelled of chlorine. The report said 10 of the patients were in critical care, including a pregnant woman.
Accusations of chemical attacks have been a fixture of the Syrian conflict with both the government and rebels blaming the other during the past five years.
The commission also said it was investigating allegations that chemical weapons had been used in the city, saying it had received “reliable information on the use of chlorine gas” on April 5, during the bombing of the Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood.
“Their discussion follows recent conversations on Syria and will focus on reducing violence, expanding humanitarian assistance for the Syrian people, and moving towards a political solution needed to end the civil war”, Kirby said in a statement.
The Civil Defence alleged that the government committed two further chlorine gas attacks in August, according to Reuters. In lower doses, it can damage lungs or cause severe breathing difficulties and other symptoms, including causing a person to throw up and experience nausea.
Assad’s use of chlorine as a weapon violates the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2235, which calls for worldwide action in the case of continued chemical weapons use by the Syrian dictator.
The Syrian government has denied that it has ever launched a chlorine attack. No deaths were reported in the attack. The worlds chemical weapons watchdog found Assads regime responsible for two chemical attacks – one each in 2014 and 2015 – in the northwestern Idlib province. It also shared a video of children soaked in water wearing oxygen masks to breathe.
The Russians and the Syrian government are the only two operating in the skies over the city.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), more than 70 people were asphyxiated Tuesday after the attack on a rebel district of this city in the north.
The Assad regime has been repeatedly accused of using chlorine gas as a chemical weapon, and a United Nations investigation in August found that regime forces had twice carried out chlorine attacks.
Hashim al-Moussawi, a spokesman for the Iraqi Shi’ite militia Harakat al-Nujab, said its fighters would reinforce areas captured from the rebels in southern Aleppo.
Russian Federation has insisted that opposition groups, backed by the United States and Gulf allies, separate from al-Qaeda-linked militants in cities such as Aleppo.