Dozens Killed in Suspected Chemical Attack in Syria

A chemical attack in Douma, a rebel-held stronghold near the capital of Damascus, has reportedly killed scores of people and affected hundreds more. The civil defense rescue service known as the White Helmets put the death toll at 150

Dozens Killed in Suspected Chemical Attack in Syria

The town of Douma, eastern Ghouta region, Syria (Photo: AP)

A chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Douma in Syria's eastern Ghouta killed dozens of people, several Syrian groups reported on Saturday. The lifeless bodies of around a dozen children, women, and men, some of them with foam at the mouth, were shown in one video circulated by activists.

Medical relief organization Syrian American Medical Society said 41 people had been killed, with other reports putting the death toll much higher. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 80 people were killed, including around 40 who died from suffocation. The civil defense rescue service, also known as the White Helmets, put the death toll as high as 150.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it could not confirm if chemical weapons had been used. Observatory Director Rami Abdulrahman said 11 people had died in Douma as a result of suffocation caused by the smoke from conventional weapons being dropped by the government. It said a total of 70 people suffered breathing difficulties.

Medical relief organization SAMS said a chlorine bomb hit Douma hospital, killing six people, and a second attack with "mixed agents" including nerve agents had hit a nearby building. Basel Termanini, the US-based vice president of SAMS, told Reuters another 35 people had been killed at the nearby apartment building, most of them women and children.

The Assad regime denied government forces had launched any chemical attack as the reports began circulating on Saturday night and said rebels in Douma were in a state of collapse and spreading false news.

The US State Department said reports of mass casualties from an alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma were "horrifying" and would, if confirmed, "demand an immediate response by the international community."

"The Assad regime and its backers must be held accountable and any further attacks prevented immediately," US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauret said. "The United States calls on Russia to end this unmitigated support immediately and work with the international community to prevent further barbaric chemical weapons attacks," she added.

On Tuesday, Gen. Joseph Votel, the commander of the US Central Command, which coordinates anti-ISIS operations in Iraq and Syria, implied that the United States will not yet leave Syria, saying there "are still some areas where ISIS terrorists are present."

"The hard part is in front of us, stabilizing these areas, consolidating gains, getting people back into homes, addressing long-term issues of reconstruction," Gen. Votel said at an event at the US Institute of Peace.

About 2,000 US soldiers are currently deployed in eastern Syria, working with local militias to fight the jihadists of the Islamic State.

 

[Sources: Reuters, Haaretz, The New York Times, Daily Sabah]

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