TOXIC GAS ATTACK IN GHOUTA?
Medics report signs of chlorine exposure; aid convoy postponed
AID agencies postponed a convoy of food and health supplies to eastern Ghouta yesterday, as the Syrian regime pressed a relentless ground and air assault against the rebel enclave.
Dozens of people, including children, were treated overnight for breathing problems and symptoms that medics said were consistent with chlorine attacks.
Doctors at one facility treated at least 29 patients with signs of exposure to chlorine, according to the Syrian American Medical Society, which supports hospitals in eastern Ghouta.
It said victims were suffering from shortness of breath, wheezing, and redness of the eyes.
Families were seen trying to reach fresh air late on Wednesday on the roof of a four-storey building in Hammuriyeh, after airstrikes on their neighbourhood.
Parents had stripped their children down and were spraying them with water, fearing toxic substances had been absorbed into their clothes.
“I’m going to suffocate,” two children screamed as rescue workers carried them down from the roof for treatment.
Regime forces have been repeatedly accused of using chlorine on eastern Ghouta in recent weeks, which both the government and Russia have staunchly denied.
New airstrikes on the town of Zamalka killed at least seven civilians yesterday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, bringing the number of dead in the offensive to more than 900.
The latest disruption in aid operations is the second in a week, with food deliveries cut short on Monday due to bombardment.
The Syrian army and allied militias began a fierce bombing campaign on Feb 18 against Ghouta, followed by a ground offensive.
The Syrian army and allied militias had recaptured half of rebelheld territory, the Observatory, a Britain-based monitor, said.
Regime forces are on the verge of cutting the remaining rebelheld territory into two isolated pockets.
This comes as the government said it had opened a second corridor out of eastern Ghouta.
The new corridor was for civilians, “who are besieged by terrorist groups in eastern Ghouta, to leave through the Jisreen-Mleha road,” state new agency SANA said.
That lies to the south of the last major rebel enclave near Damascus.