Syria’s conflict has killed more than 280,000 people and drawn in world powers since it erupted in March 2011, as protests calling for the ouster of President Bashar Assad’s regime escalated into all-out civil war.
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Meanwhile, a spokesman for Syria Civil Defence said that 33 people, mostly women and the children, were affected by the gas which they suspect was chlorine, in Saraqeb, Idlib province. Russia, a major Assad backer, denies this account. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the reports that chemical weapons were used in the area as an unfounded information attack.
On Tuesday evening, Syrias state-run SANA news agency reported that Syrian officials said an attack using poisonous gas had occurred in Aleppo.
At least five people have been killed and more than a dozen injured in Aleppo – Syria’s largest city.
Aleppo is about 50 kilometers (31 miles) northeast of Saraqeb.
Syrian government forces have tightened their siege of rebel-held sections in recent weeks, prompting a rebel attack aimed at breaking it.
An official with the Aleppo administration said people were fleeing through specially-designated corridors under heavy rebel fire. Opposition groups and activists have reported chlorine gas attacks in the town before, but the lack of chemical labs or independent testers makes it hard to verify these claims.
Smoke billows from buildings during an operation by Syrian government forces to retake control of the rebel-held district of Leramun, on the northwest outskirts of Aleppo, on July 26, 2016. No group has claimed responsibility for the downing of the Russian helicopter, although several different rebel groups have a military presence in the region. Jabhat Fateh Al-Sham, formerly called al Nusra Front, recently severed its ties to al Qaeda.
Mr Assad’s troops imposed a siege on Aleppo last month when they seized high ground overlooking the Castello road, a key artery that was the only supply route from Turkey, which backs the opposition, into the eastern half of the city.
Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director of Human Rights Watch, said recently: “Syrian government forces are repeating the bad siege tactics in densely populated eastern Aleppo that devastated civilian populations in other towns in Syria”.
The shells were fired from within rebel-held eastern Aleppo, targeting surrounding areas controlled by the Syrian regime, the UK-based monitoring group said.
The rebels are a coalition of moderate and Islamist groups.
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More than 40 civilians have been killed since Sunday because of opposition bombardment of those neighbourhoods.
