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Rescuers say toxic gas dropped on Syrian town near downed Russian helicopter

Rebel fighters trying to break the Aleppo siege and government forces encircling the city blamed each other for using the poisonous gas, believed to be chlorine.

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The helicopter was carrying three crew and two officers.

Russia, Syria’s key military backer, has vehemently denied that a chemical attack took place.

Meanwhile rebel bombardments of the southwest of Aleppo have resulted in at least 30 civilian deaths, including 18 women and children, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Two barrels of chlorine gas were dropped, said Dr.

The Russian military has denied hitting civilians, and also rejected claims that its aircraft targeted moderate elements of the Syrian opposition along with its declared targets, the Islamic State group and al-Qaida’s branch in Syria, the Nusra Front.

“Medium-sized barrels fell containing toxic gasses”, a spokesman for the group said.

Aleppo is about 50 kilometers (31 miles) northeast of Saraqeb.

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.

Sharif Nashishibi, a London-based Middle East analyst and writer, described the opposition fighters’ campaign as “their last ditch attempt to keep Aleppo” as government forces attempt to further besiege rebel-held neighbourhoods.

The spokesman said the incident marked the second time toxic gas had been dropped on Saraqeb. “And then, also, there was an attack that happened just a month prior close to Saraqeb”, Jamjoom said. He said their symptoms were consistent with those “of someone who has suffered from chlorine poisoning”.

The Syrian Civil Defence group said the attack – which has not been independently verified by NBC News – was carried out in the northern city of Saraqeb on Monday night, near to where a Russian helicopter was shot down earlier in the day. The London-based security think tank said that the Syrian regime knows Tehran is central to prevent its collapse although it prefers Russian support as Moscow is less focused on the role of militias.

It urged the United Nations to take action, and said the alleged chemical attack took place in an area close to where a Russian helicopter was downed a day earlier.

Terrorist groups such as Daesh, as well as Jabhat Fatah al Sham (previously known as the al-Nusra Front), both outlawed in Russian Federation and a range of other states, are not part of the deal.

The siege has essentially cut the area off from vital supplies, and has left the city without enough food, water, medical supplies, and fuel to keep ambulances and hospital generators running.

The helicopter came down in Idlib province, roughly midway between Aleppo and Russia’s main airbase at Khmeimim in the western province of Latakia, near the Mediterranean coast. The US accused Damascus of that attack, which it estimates killed 1,429 people, including at least 426 children.

Rebel groups launched the wide-scale assault on Sunday to break through a strip of government-controlled territory and reconnect their encircled sector of eastern Aleppo with a swathe of insurgent territory in the west of Syria.

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