{"id":238438,"date":"2016-08-11T15:55:47","date_gmt":"2016-08-11T15:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=238438"},"modified":"2016-08-11T15:55:47","modified_gmt":"2016-08-11T15:55:47","slug":"syria-conflict-aleppo-chlorine-gas-attack-investigated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=238438","title":{"rendered":"Syria conflict: Aleppo ‘chlorine gas attack’ investigated"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UN is investigating evidence of a toxic gas attack on a rebel-held area of the Syrian city of Aleppo.<\/p>\n

Rebels said the attack – which reportedly left four people dead and many injured – was carried out by government forces using chlorine gas.<\/p>\n

The UN special envoy for Syria said a chlorine attack, if confirmed, would amount to a “war crime”.<\/p>\n

Footage obtained by the BBC shows people with breathing difficulties receiving treatment at a hospital.<\/p>\n

Men, women and children are shown being fitted with oxygen masks by medical staff.<\/p>\n

The gas is thought to have been chlorine dropped in a barrel bomb, said the Syrian Civil Defence – volunteer emergency response workers who operate in opposition-held areas.<\/p>\n

UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura confirmed the global body’s experts were investigating reports of a gas, believed to be chlorine, being dropped on Aleppo.<\/p>\n

“There is a lot of evidence that it actually did take place,” he told reporters. “If it did take place, it is a war crime and as much it would require everyone… to address it immediately.”<\/p>\n

‘Eyes burning’<\/strong><\/p>\n

A man receiving treatment in hospital said he had been in the Zebdieh area of the city, where he lives, when two missiles landed near him and a group of friends.<\/p>\n

“And a few minutes later, the smell of gas started spreading… and I felt my eyes burning and difficulties in breathing,” he said. “The smell was very strong – beyond any description.”<\/p>\n

A medic at the hospital said they had received a lot of casualties, who were “all ages” including children and elderly people.<\/p>\n

“When we examined these casualties, we realised it was due to chlorine,” he added.<\/p>\n

Chlorine is a common industrial chemical, but its use in weapons is banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention.<\/p>\n

In 2013, the BBC found strong evidence suggesting residents of Saraqeb had been subject to a chemical attack by government helicopters, something denied by the Syrian authorities.<\/p>\n

Fighting has escalated in Aleppo in recent days, with rebels severing the government’s main route to the west of the city.<\/p>\n

The offensive sought to break a siege by pro-government forces, who encircled the east in July with the support of Russian aircraft.<\/p>\n

Aid crisis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Russia has announced a daily halt to hostilities between 10:00 (07:00 GMT) and 13:00 from Thursday, to allow in aid.<\/p>\n

But UN Emergency Relief Co-ordinator Stephen O’Brien said while that would be taken seriously, a break of up to 48 hours was needed to get enough aid in on lorries.<\/p>\n

\"Rebel<\/span><\/figure>\n

“We have supplies ready to roll – food rations, hospital supplies, ambulances, fuel for generators, water supplies and more.<\/p>\n

“We will continue to use all available routes and mechanisms to do this, including cross-line and cross-border operations from Turkey.”<\/p>\n

A witness in Aleppo told the BBC there had not been any ceasefire on Thursday, contrary to what the Russians had said.<\/p>\n

Earlier some of the last doctors in the rebel-held east of the city appealed to US President Barack Obama to come to the aid of the 250,000 civilians there.<\/p>\n

They said that in the past month there had been 42 attacks on medical facilities in Syria, 15 of them on hospitals where they work.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the UN said countless civilians had been killed or injured in Aleppo in recent weeks and hospitals and clinics had continued to be targeted.<\/p>\n

Moreover, attacks on civilian infrastructure had left more than two million people without electricity or access to the public water network for several days, it added.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Russian planes attacked targets in the northern city of Raqqa, a stronghold of so-called Islamic State.<\/p>\n

Russia ‘cuts IS capital’s water supply’<\/strong><\/p>\n

The city’s water supply had been cut off as a result, the group’s media arm, Amaq, said. The report was confirmed by an anti-IS group.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The UN is investigating evidence of a toxic gas attack on a rebel-held area of the Syrian city of Aleppo. Rebels said the attack – which reportedly left four people dead and many injured – was carried out by government forces using chlorine gas. The UN special envoy for Syria said a chlorine attack, if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=238438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=238438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=238438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=238438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}