The Western leaders widely see Russia’s air campaign in the country as an effort to prop up the administration of the current Syrian President, Bashar Al-Assad.
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Russian Federation and Syria announced the opening of what they called humanitarian corridors for civilians and rebels wanting to surrender, but few people have reportedly used them, fearing they would be targeted.
The gas has caused 30 cases of breathing difficulties, the group said, posting a YouTube video purporting to show victims of the incident with oxygen masks to their faces.
Abdel Aziz Bareeh, a doctor working in Saraqeb, told the BBC that the helicopter dropped two barrels of chlorine gas on the town.
Syrian state news agency SANA said that since Sunday, 20 civilians were killed and dozens wounded in shelling, rocket fire and sniper attacks on government-held neighbourhoods.
There was no immediate comment from the Syrian government or its Russian allies, who are battling rebels for control of the area in what observers describe as some of the fiercest fighting in months. It is possible that the Syrian government maintains chemical weapons in clandestine locations.
The Civil Defense spokesman said it was the second time Saraqeb had been hit by toxic gas.
Another 133 chemical attacks were reported in addition to the 161 documented in the reported, but SAMS said the claims “could not be fully substantiated”.
Monitors at the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said barrel bombs fell on Saraqeb late on Monday, wounding many citizens.
A Russian military helicopter was shot down yesterday over the Syrian province of Idlib with all five people on board believed to have been killed, the Kremlin said.
Russian Federation has denied targeting civilian facilities and maintained that its operations are aimed at United Nations-designated terrorist organizations such as Islamic State and the former Nusra Front.
Russian authorities claimed the helicopter was shot down while returning to the military’s Khmeimim air base after delivering humanitarian aid to the besieged city of Aleppo.
The Syrian forces also flushed fighters of the Jaish al-Fatah terrorist group out of residential areas south of Aleppo.
Local rebel sources said Russian forces carried out 33 airstrikes in the area after the helicopter crashed. The government and Russian Federation have accused rebels of using poison gas. The weapon used was identified as sarin gas. At least 1,429 people were killed, including 426 children. The government accused the rebels, who, in turn, denied the accusation.
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Later that year the United Nations and the Syrian government agreed to destroy the state’s declared stockpile of chemical weapons, a process completed in January.
