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Children choke on Assad’s chlorine

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Wednesday that one person had died as a result of the attack that caused dozens of cases of suffocation. A 13-year-old girl and a 29-year-old man died from further complications yesterday.

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Hamza al-Khatib, who heads an Aleppo medical center, said Afifa had been in intensive care following the suspected chlorine attack.

New footage emerged of civilians choking in the aftermath of an apparent attack with poison chlorine gas on an opposition-held district as the battle for Syria’s biggest city approaches what could be a decisive phase.

Ramousah, its surroundings, and the countryside between it and the village of Khan Touman seven km (four miles) to its southwest were the site of intense bombardment by Russian jets and attacks by Shi’ite militias in recent weeks, rebels say.

In Tuesday’s attack, a medical report from one of the hospitals in the besieged eastern rebel-held part of Aleppo was shared with journalists via text messages.

It said that at least 71 people, including 37 children and ten women, suffered breathing problems, according to a report by doctors, and that ten were critical.

Russian and Iran-backed Syrian Dictator Bashar al-Assad is using warplanes to drop suspected chlorine-laden bombs on a nearby suburb, wounding at least 80 people, majority women and children.

Chlorine, element 17 on the periodic table, is a so-called dual-use chemical with a number of industrial uses.

Syrian Civil Defense, a volunteer rescue group, said the chlorine bombs were dropped on Aleppo’s civilian-populated al-Sukkari neighborhood – which was full of women and children.

At least 10 civilians were killed in the IS-held town of Taduf, near Al-Bab, in air strikes by unidentified aircraft on Wednesday, the Observatory said. “Wherever the regime is driven out of an area, it ends up destroying it”, he said in a text message to The Associated Press. “It is a crowded neighborhood”. In extremely high doses, chlorine can be fatal.

Gone and forgotten – Obama’s disappearing “red line” regarding Syria’s use of chemical weapons.

The Syrian government has always denied using chemical weapons.

The worldwide community took no military action in response, although a multinational deal was struck under which the majority of Syria’s chemical arsenal was removed.

Chief of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Ahmet Uzumcu.

Assad’s fighters can now access Aleppo from the north via the key Castello Road and the south through Ramussa, while opposition forces are left with no roads.

“Continued U.S. inaction to protect the civilians of Syria means that our plight is being wilfully tolerated by those in the worldwide corridors of power”. The Russians and the Syrian government are the only two operating in the skies over the city. “We do not need tears or sympathy or even prayers, we need your action”.

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In the summer of 2012, thousands of armed militants stormed residential districts of Aleppo from its countryside, hitting the economic nerve of the Syrian government, which has repeatedly accused Turkey of supporting the rebels for undeclared interests in Aleppo. These attacks are appalling and must cease.

Watch: Suspected chlorine gas attack chokes dozens in Aleppo