Syria chemical attack kills 70
A CHEMICAL attack in Douma, the last rebel-held stronghold near Syria’s capital, Damascus, has killed at least 70 people and affected hundreds, rescue workers have said.
The White Helmets, a group of rescuers operating in opposition-held areas in Syria, said on Saturday that most of the fatalities were women and children.
“Seventy people suffocated to death and hundreds are still suffocating,” Raed al-Saleh, head of the White Helmets, said, adding that the death toll was expected to rise as many people were in critical condition.
Al-Saleh said that chlorine gas and an unidentified but stronger gas were dropped on Douma.
“White Helmet volunteers are trying to help the people but all that we can do is evacuate them to another area by foot because most of the vehicles and centres went out of service.”
One member of White Helmets said that an entire family had suffocated to death as they hid in their cellar, trying to seek shelter from air raids and barrel bombs.
The US government has warned of a global response against Syria if reports of the chemical attack are confirmed.
The Syrian government, however, is calling it a fabrication, dismissing talk of the Syrian army using poisonous gas as “farcical”.
Yesterday, pro-Syrian opposition Orient television reported that negotiations to reach a final agreement over Douma were underway between the Jaish al-Islam rebel group and the Russians.
There was no immediate comment from Jaish al-Islam, which controls the city, the last remaining under rebel control in Eastern Ghouta.
Pro-government forces and their allies on Friday launched a fierce air and ground offensive on Douma.
Syria’s state news agency SANA said the heavy bombardment, which shattered 10 days of calm, was in response to shelling by Jaish al-Islam on residential areas in Damascus. — Al Jazeera PARIS — Millions of French commuters and holidaymakers faced another wave of crippling transport stoppages yesterday, as rail workers protested at President Emmanuel Macron’s economic reform plans and some unions warned they could step up strike action.
Train staff last week kicked off three months of nationwide rolling strikes in a dispute over the government’s planned overhaul of state-run rail firm SNCF, in the biggest challenge yet to Macron’s attempts to modernise the French economy.
Just over a third of workers needed to make the train network run smoothly were expected to walk out on Sunday, a dip in participation compared to the last 48 hours of walk-outs on Tuesday and Wednesday, the SNCF said. But some labour unions have already signalled a hardening stance as negotiations with ministers over the reforms hit a wall. Officials at the Communist-rooted CGT said on Friday strikes could drag on well beyond June if nothing shifted.
Laurent Brun, head of the CGT’s railway section, added workers were ready for a “marathon” if needed.
Unions have so far called strikes for two days out of every five until the end of June, to fight a shake-up of monopoly SNCF before it is opened to competition in line with European Union rules.
That includes ending job-for-life guarantees and early retirement for rail workers, which the government argues will help transform the heavily indebted company into a profitable public service.
Workers have hit back with complaints the SNCF was being dismantled to pave the way for a privatisation.
The showdown between Macron and the rail unions is one of the toughest tests yet of the former investment banker’s presidency.
The 40-year-old came to power last May on a promise to shake up Europe’s second-biggest economy, in a bid to modernise some of France’s creaking institutions and spur jobs growth, and Macron has so far liberalised labour regulations for instance. — Reuters