The battle for Aleppo is seen by both sides as key to deciding Syria’s fate. Medical workers in the city say the opposition-controlled neighborhood was struck with chlorine gas Tuesday, though the report could not be independently verified.
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The world’s chemical weapons watchdog said Wednesday it was “disturbed” by the alleged use of toxic chemicals in Aleppo after dozens of people had to be treated for breathing problems in the Syrian battlefront city.
Among the 10 people who were in critical condition is a pregnant woman, AP reports.
A Syrian boy suffering from breathing difficulties is treated at a make-shift hospital in Aleppo.. Video from the local branch of the Syrian Civil Defense search-and-rescue organization showed residents yelling for help as first responders dug victims out of the rubble. “It is a crowded neighborhood”. The Observatory’s chief, Rami Abdurrahman, said he could not ascertain if it was chlorine gas attack. “If high concentrations of the chemical enter the lungs it can cause death”.
Syrian state media and an activist group are reporting that government forces and their allies have captured new ground on the edge of the contested northern city of Aleppo. But the U.N. Security Council failed to agree on whether to impose sanctions on the government in line with a September 2013 resolution authorizing sanctions that can be militarily enforced for any use of chemical weapons in Syria.
In a two-page summary of a classified report submitted to the United Nations, the OPCW said most of the 122 samples that it collected at multiple sites in Syria “indicate potentially undeclared chemical weapons-related activities”. Our unarmed and neutral rescue workers have saved more than 60,000 people from the attacks in Syria, but there are many we can not reach. Regime aircraft dropped barrel bombs laced with chlorine gas on the Damascus suburbs of Ein Tarma and Jobar, reported by the Anadolu Agency (AA).
Fighting in the deeply contested city of Aleppo has not let up despite worldwide efforts to establish a cease-fire.
If sustained, the advance would reverse almost all the gains rebels made in a sudden push last month, tighten the blockade over rebel-held eastern Aleppo and ease access for the army into government-held western districts through the city’s south.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to negotiate a settlement on the sidelines of the G-20 conference in China on Monday.
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Kalin told private broadcaster NTV Tuesday that the initial plan was for a 48-hour ceasefire. Turkey has pushed for a safe zone in Syria since at least 2014. It expanded its operation into nearby al-Rai over the weekend.
