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”.
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U.S. President Barack Obama pledged in 2011 to attack the Assad regime if it used chemical weapons, but reneged on his pledge in favor of a Russian brokered deal for Assad to turn over his chemical weapons stockpile.
Ten of the patients were children, a member of the White Helmets told dpa news agency.
A Russian military helicopter was shot down over Syria on Monday, killing all five people on board in the single deadliest incident for Moscow since it intervened in the war.
Russian Federation began an aerial campaign in support of Damascus last September, and has lost 18 forces since its intervention began.
“The helicopter was hit from the ground in an area under control of the armed units of Al-Nusra Front terrorist group and the troops of the so-called “moderate opposition” who joined them”, Rudskoy said, according to RT.
“Several activists are wondering if this [the alleged chlorine gas attack] is a retaliatory attack for the downing of the helicopter”, Al Jazeeras Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from Gaziantep on the Turkish side of the Syria-Turkey border, said.
Last week, Moscow announced the opening of “humanitarian corridors” from the east into government territory for civilians and surrendering rebels.
Global human rights groups have repeatedly accused Russian Federation of using cluster munitions against civilians and rebels since it began its aerial campaign in Syria previous year to shore up Assad’s forces.
Kerry said regime attacks had prevented the warring parties from meeting for negotiations on Monday, the target date set for the regime and opposition forces to agree on the framework of a political transition.
Fighting has intensified around Aleppo and its neighboring provinces since the government sealed off the final route into rebel-controlled neighborhoods of the city.
The shelling comes after rebel groups launched an offensive Sunday in a push to try to break the siege that has choked that sector.
Russian warplanes pounded the southern edges of Aleppo on August 1, slowing a “last chance” rebel offensive against Assad’s forces, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
The eastern Aleppo area has been helped by rebels since 2012 but is now encircled by regime forces.
The UN estimates that 200,000 to 300,000 people may still be trapped in the rebel section of Aleppo with dwindling food and medical supplies.
For those left in the area, life is grim.
Elsewhere in Aleppo province, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance, advanced inside the Daesh terror group bastion of Manbij on Monday, the observatory reported.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory said at least 11 people, including five children, were killed when bombs were dropped in a market in rebel-held Atareb, west of the city of Aleppo.
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Rudskoi also said Russia fully supports the United Nations initiative on “improving the modalities of the Russia-Syrian humanitarian operation in Aleppo”.
