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.
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“Just before midnight helicopters dropped five explosive barrels containing cylinders of chlorine and shards of metal on neighborhoods in Saraqeb”, he said.
The UK-based watchdog group said the type of gas was hard to be identified, saying it has based its report on local testimonies.
The Syrian government and its Russian allies were not immediately available for comment.
Western powers including the USA have accused Syrian President Bashar Assad of using chemical weapons during his regime’s five-year civil war – a charge he has denied.
“Because the location of this alleged chemical attack is very close to the site of the helicopter downing the Kremlin is very key to void the assumption that has been made in some circles that it is involved in some way in any kind of retaliatory or punitive response to that incident”.
Russian Federation has issued a statement denying any use of poison gas on their part, accusing the local media of fabricating the entire story.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the helicopter had come down along the administrative border between Idlib province in the north-west and neighbouring Aleppo. It was carrying three crew and two officers, Russia’s defence ministry said.
Although no rebel groups have officially claimed responsibility for the attack, it is likely it was shot down by rebel forces.
“It is critical, obviously, that Russian Federation restrain both itself and the Assad regime from conducting offensive operations, just as it is our responsibility to get the opposition to refrain from engaging in those operations”, he told journalists. President Bashar al-Assad has denied using chemical weapons during the country’s ongoing civil war, despite strong evidence to the contrary.
According to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced almost half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.
The Observatory said at least 11 people, including five children, were killed when bombs were dropped in a market in the rebel-held town of Atareb.
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 2016.
The rescue workers, who went to the scene of the attack, said they suspected the gas was chlorine but could not verify that.
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.
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The encirclement of eastern Aleppo has raised fears of starvation for remaining residents, who have reported food shortages and spiraling prices since the government siege began on July 17.
