In neighboring Aleppo province, shells fired by Syrian rebel groups killed at least 28 civilians – including six children and eight women – over the last 24 hours, the Britain-based Observatory said. The U.S. also said it was looking into the reported use of chemical weapons in Saraqeb.
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“In Saraqeb this is not the first time that activists have reported barrels bombs being dropped that contain chlorine gas”.
The Syrian government has not yet released a statement, according to Reuters, but Assad has denied previous charges of being involved in chemical attacks on the town.
Aleppo is about 50 kilometers (31 miles) northeast of Saraqeb.
“It said that reports of chemical barrel bombs amount to an unfounded information attack, lies essentially”, he added.
The attack came as Syrian opposition fighters and their jihadist allies battled government forces outside Aleppo in a bid to ease the regime s siege of rebel-held parts of the northern city.
But US officials say the operation’s goal is to evacuate civilians from the city so they can then attack the rebels holding out there.
CNN has spoken with a doctor in Saraqeb who said he treated some of those affected by the alleged attack.
He said the symptoms displayed were consistent with “symptoms of someone who has suffered from chlorine poisoning”.
It was returning to the Khmeimim air base on Syria’s northwestern coast after delivering humanitarian aid to the city of Aleppo when it was shot down by fire from the ground, the Defense Ministry said in an earlier statement carried by the Interfax news agency. The opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC) accused President Bashar al Assad of being behind the attack.
The crash killed all five people on board, in the biggest loss of life for Russian forces since they started operations in Syria.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident, which occurred in an area controlled by a rebel alliance dominated by the Fateh al-Sham Front.
The Aleppo offensive groups fighters from Fateh al-Sham Front, formerly the al-Qaida affiliate Nusra Front, the powerful Islamist Ahrar al-Sham and other factions.
Around a quarter of a million civilians are living under siege in rebel-held areas since government forces cut them off last month.
Eastern Aleppo has been held by rebel groups since July 2012.
A rocket pod was visible amid the wreckage, standard equipment for the Mi-8, a workhorse of the Russian air force which can be used for carrying troops and cargo and attacking ground targets.
The assault began on Sunday and is meant to ease the encirclement of the opposition-held east of Aleppo city, where an estimated 250,000 residents have been under regime siege since July 17.
Inside Story – What’s behind Russian humanitarian corridors in Aleppo?
According to the United Nations, 300,000 people are trapped in eastern Aleppo and food supplies could run out in a few weeks. The Syrian regime and Russian Federation say four more corridors will soon be made available.
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It is the deadliest single incident for the Russian military since its entrance into Syria’s civil war.
