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Govt chopper dropped chlorine, killing 3 in Aleppo, alleges Syrian rescue worker

“We call for the immediate cessation of air raids on civilian targets in Aleppo”.

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“When we examined these casualties, we realized it was due to chlorine”, a physician says in the video. Daesh is an Arabic language acronym for the Islamic State group.

“The United States has repeatedly condemned the indiscriminate bombing of medical facilities by the Assad regime in Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria”.

Both groups said the strikes were launched by Russian jets, though it was not clear how they made that determination.

Western powers say the government has been responsible for chlorine and other chemical attacks, and the government and Russian Federation have accused rebels of using poison gas.

The UN said on Thursday it was talking to Russian Federation about a “workable humanitarian pause” in fighting in Aleppo and that three hours a day was “not enough” to help up to 2-million civilians trapped in the divided Syrian city.

In 2013, the BBC found strong evidence suggesting residents of Saraqeb had been subject to a chemical attack by government helicopters, something denied by the Syrian authorities.

Russian Federation said on Wednesday there would be daily three-hour ceasefires in Syria’s Aleppo starting Thursday to allow humanitarian convoys to enter the city safely, a proposal which the United Nations said it would consider.

A senior Russian senator on Thursday said Moscow was planning to expand its Hmeimim air base on Syria’s coast into a permanent facility.

Syria has been repeatedly accused of using chlorine in attacks in the three years since it agreed to dismantle its chemical-weapons program and turned over the last of its stockpiles in 2014. The Netherlands-based agency said in a statement that the use of chemical weapons by anyone under any circumstances is “reprehensible”, adding it continues to examine any credible reports it received.

The discussions are holding at a time when there are claims that suspected chlorine gas was dropped alongside barrel bombs on a neighbourhood in Aleppo on Wednesday.

The report, which was posted online Thursday, could not be independently verified. Human rights groups have warned of a deteriorating humanitarian situation there.

The manager of al-Quds hospital told Reuters that at least four people had died of gas poisoninig and at least 55 were injured with seven still requiring hospital treatment.

Residents of western Aleppo said cutting the main supply route to the government side had slowed the entry of goods and fuel and driven up food prices, but a delivery by government forces via an alternative route this week provided some relief.

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“And a few minutes later, the smell of gas started spreading. and I felt my eyes burning and difficulties in breathing”, he said.

Civilians breathe through an oxygen mask at al Quds hospital after a hospital and a civil defence group said a gas what they believed to be chlorine was dropped alongside barrel bombs on a neighbourhood of the Syrian city of Aleppo