Armed rebels in Aleppo have launched a military operation aimed at breaking week-long regime siege of the opposition-controlled eastern part of the Syrian city.
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The Civil Defense spokesman said it was the second time Saraqeb had been hit by toxic gas. The clip shows a man who is struggling to breathe being treated with an oxygen mask by people in uniforms.
“Medium-sized barrels fell containing toxic gasses”, a spokesman for the group said. “Health facilities must never be attacked or damaged, and health workers should be allowed to provide medical treatment and services to all people in need wherever they are inside Syria”.
Rudskoi called the downing a terrorist act against Russian forces, which were deployed in Syria with the aim to help Syrian government fight terrorists.
At least nine civilians, including three children, were killed by rebel fire in the government-controlled section of the divided northern city of Aleppo and airstrikes killed at least 11 in a town to the west, activists and government media reported Tuesday. The Assad regime denied any involvement, although most observers believe his regime was responsible for the attack.
Raed Al Halabi, a fighter in the local Halab al-Shahba Brigades, said on Tuesday a coalition of armed groups will launch shells and auto bomb attacks against Aleppo’s government-held neighbourhoods with the hope of advancing and opening the government-besieged supply route into the city.
Mr Peskov said that the three crew members and two officers had “died heroically because they tried to move the aircraft away so as to minimise losses on the ground”.
In the latest incident, a Russian military helicopter was shot down in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province, killing all five people on board.
The #Syria Civil Defence, which claims to be a non-aligned group of search and rescue volunteers, has alleged that chemical weapons were dropped on a town near where a Russian helicopter was shot down.
The Syrian National Coalition issued a statement that read: “After shelling, besieging and killing civilians and perpetrating war crimes on them, the Assad regime has resorted once again, and in breach of United Nations resolutions 2118 and 2235, to using chemical substances and toxic gasses”.
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Despite persistent Western accusations that Moscow is abetting Assad in a brutal crackdown on his own people, Russian President Vladimir Putin has presented the Syrian operation as a success in the fight against Islamist terrorism. Its capture would both cut off government forces and open a new route into the city for rebels. The weapon used was identified as sarin gas. On February 27, a US-Russia brokered ceasefire came into force in Syria. Dozens were reported wounded, but none killed.
