US, Russia clash over gas claims
SYRIA: The Assad regime and Russian forces have intensified their assault on the last pocket of rebel control in northern Syria, launching dozens of air strikes and an apparent chlorine gas attack.
Scores of civilians were buried under rubble and at least 43 people were declared dead yesterday after air strikes hit the northwestern province of Idlib and other rebelheld territories.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain, said Idlib had been under continuous, intensive and violent bombardment since a Russian fighter jet was shot down on Monday.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a rebel faction that split from al Qaeda last year and claimed responsibility for shooting down the jet, is battling regime forces in the area for control of the highway from Aleppo to the capital, Damascus, a strategic route.
In Saraqib, five people were in hospital after inhaling toxic gas. Two barrels of what appeared to be chlorine gas were dropped on the town from regime helicopters on Monday. Video shot by the On The Ground News agency showed rescue workers hosing down men who were flailing in pain and struggling to breathe.
In the city of Idlib and villages in the south and east of the province, Russian forces were said to have carried out the bulk of the air strikes which killed at least 17 people.
‘‘Idlib is burning. It has been under the Russian inferno since the warplane was downed,’’ said Ahmed Sheiko, a volunteer for the White Helmets rescue team. ‘‘It’s like doomsday. Screaming sounds are echoing around the streets.’’
The air strikes could strain the Astana peace process, involving Iran, Turkey and Russia. The three nations are acting as guarantors to ensure the establishment of four de-escalation zones in Syria, including Idlib. Although attacks on ‘‘mainstream’’ rebel groups are prohibited under the agreement brokered last year, the terms of the ceasefire allow for strikes on militias linked to Islamic State or al Qaeda.
Some mainstream rebel factions are still operating in Idlib, but most areas are controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, giving Moscow a pretext to continue attacks.
Meanwhile in another deescalation zone, 26 people died in air strikes in the Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta and nearby towns yesterday.
The United States and Russia clashed yesterday at the United Nations Security Council over allegations that Assad’s regime had once again used chemical weapons in attacks on rebel enclaves.
US Ambassador Nikki Haley said Russia was blocking a probe of chemical weapons use and shielding Assad by preventing a Security Council statement condemning the use of chlorine on civilians over the weekend.
Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia rejected Haley’s charges as ‘‘slander against Russia’’ and said a proposal his country introduced last month, to create a new mechanism to investigate future chemical attacks, was still an option. Haley has called Russia’s proposal a ‘‘distraction’’.