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‘Dozens choke’ in Syria Aleppo after barrel bomb attacks

This represents the third instance in which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has dropped chlorine gas bombs on his own people.

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Volunteer emergency workers say people suffered breathing difficulties after an attack on the Sukkari area in Aleppo.

Medical workers said the opposition-controlled neighborhood was hit Tuesday with chlorine gas, though the report could not be independently verified.

Many of those injured are reportedly children and some victims were said to be in a critical condition.

The bombs left more than 70 people choking and in need of treatment were dropped from helicopters on the Sukkari neighbourhood. The previous two came in 2014 and 2015, a recent United Nations investigation concluded.

Syria’s government is once again facing accusations of using chemical weapons against civilians, with reports of a chlorine gas attack Tuesday in the divided city of Aleppo. While stockpiles of chlorine, a common cleaning chemical, aren’t regulated, using it as a chemical weapon is still illegal and considered a war crime.

The Civil Defence accused the government of two other suspected chlorine gas attacks in August.

The U.N. Security Council released an investigative panel report in August that said it had retrieved evidence that showed the Assad regime had conclusively carried out at least two chemical weapons attacks, the first in 2014 and the other in 2015.

Sahloul said he believes the use of chemical weapons is part of a strategy to displace Syrians in opposition-held territories.

“The use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere and under any circumstances is unacceptable”, he added in a statement.

Syrian activists posted pictures on Twitter of people allegedly hurt in the attack. Government forces in July encircled the rebel-held part of the city in a siege that cut residents off from basic supplies of food, water, fuel and medicine, spawning a humanitarian crisis.

One person was killed by the blast of the barrel bomb, according to the US-based Syrian American Medical Society, which supports one of three hospitals in Aleppo where the victims were taken. The Syrians deliberately constructed a weapon that could deliver the gas and then dropped it on a civilian neighborhood.

The five-year civil war has claimed an estimated quarter of a million lives and displaced over 11 million people.

The commission also records attacks on civilian neighbourhoods by anti-government militias and said without a return to peace talks the violations would continue.

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Meanwhile, while meeting in Hangzhou, China for the G-20 summit, President Obama and Vladimir Putin of Russia-a key ally of Assad-failed to reach a cease-fire agreement.

Syria activists: Warplanes dropped chlorine bombs in Aleppo