Rebels fire toxic gas in Aleppo: Syrian media

damascus — Syrian state media said on Sunday that rebels had fired shells containing toxic gas into government-held parts of Aleppo, leaving dozens of people including civilians in need of treatment.

State news agency Sana reported that 35 people were suffering from “suffocation” after shells carrying “toxic gases” hit the frontline district of Dahiyet Al Assad and government-held Hamdaniyeh in Aleppo.

It said people were suffering from shortness of breath, muscle spasms and numbness, but were receiving treatment.

The head of Aleppo University Hospital, Ibrahim Hadid, told state television that “36 people, including civilians and combatants, were wounded after inhaling toxic chlorine gas released by terrorists”.

Meanwhile, 38 civilians have been killed in a two-day opposition offensive to break the government siege of Aleppo. Rebels and allied militants launched a major offensive on Friday to break through government lines and reach the 250,000 people living in the city’s east.

Since then, they have unleashed a salvo of rockets, artillery shells, and car bombs around the western government-controlled districts.

“Rebel fighters have launched hundreds of rockets and shells onto the western districts from positions inside the city and on its western edges,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Two days of heavy rebel bombardment have killed 38 civilians, including 14 children, and wounded another 250. Fighting has also killed 30 government and allied fighters, as well as 50 Syrian rebels, according to the Observatory. —