The accusations came hours after the Russian military, which is fighting alongside Syrian government forces, promised a daily, three-hour cease-fire for Aleppo to allow humanitarian aid into besieged areas.
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“We welcome any signs of greater worldwide unity against ISIL”, Farhan Haq said during a daily briefing in response to a question about the recent thawing of Turkey-Russia ties.
Despite calls for a ceasefire and a promise from Russian Federation of a three-hour respite to allow in humanitarian aid, there has been no let-up in the violence. Urem al-Kubra lies on the road linking Aleppo to the northern rebel-controlled province of Idlib, which has also witnessed intense bombings. “If it did take place, it is a war crime”.
“Three hours a day to deliver aid is grossly inadequate given the magnitude of the humanitarian crisis in eastern Aleppo and the perilous and time-consuming nature of such deliveries”.
“This attack in Aleppo is yet another flagrant violation of global humanitarian law and signals a distressing pattern in the use of chemical weapons by regime forces”, said Magdalena Mughrabi, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme.
The Observatory made no mention of chlorine gas.
“To meet that capacity of need, you need two lanes and you need to have about 48 hours to get sufficient trucks in”, Stephen O’Brien told reporters. Syrians are a peaceful society – they want peace.
Further east, Russian raids hit the IS stronghold of Raqa, killing at least 24 civilians and wounding 70 people, said the Observatory.
At least four people died and many suffered breathing difficulties when a gas, believed to be chlorine, was dropped alongside barrel bombs on an Aleppo neighbourhood on Wednesday, a hospital and a civil defence group told Reuters.
Responding to questions about reports of a deadly chemical attack in Aleppo Wednesday, the Syria envoy said it was it was not in his remit to verify such reports but that “there is a lot of evidence that it actually did take place”.
Aleppo has been a flash-point city in the fighting between opposition groups and Moscow-backed regime forces, with Russian Federation laying siege to the city and suffocating humanitarian efforts.
The almost monthlong government siege of Syria’s largest city is now on the verge of collapse, after a week of heavy fighting in northern and eastern Aleppo led to the defeat of pro-regime forces by a coalition of Syrian opposition groups.
On Thursday, reports claimed at least four people have been killed in a suspected chlorine gas attack in the east of the city.
Syria has been repeatedly accused of using chlorine in attacks in the three years since it agreed to dismantle its chemical-weapons program and turned over the last of its stockpiles in 2014.
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Mustard gas was also used in August 2015, according to the United Nations watchdog Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The Sun reported hours ago that 55 people were injured in the attack. Many residents said the attack was carried out by government helicopters.
