The Syrian Civil Defence, a volunteer rescue service operating in rebel-held territory also known as the “White Helmets”, subsequently said on Tuesday a helicopter had dropped toxic gas overnight in the countryside of Idlib province close to where the Russian helicopter was shot down.
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Hospitals supported by Doctors Without Borders in rebel-held Aleppo have seen a significant increase in wounded seeking treatment since the fighting intensified this week, said Marco Pablo Blanco, Middle East operations manager for the humanitarian group.
About a quarter of a million civilians are living under siege since government forces cut them off last month.
On Wednesday, Lieutenant-General Sergey Chvarkov, the director of the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria, said the information was given to the United States on Monday, a day prior to the attack, Press TV reported.
Rebel groups operating in the city include so-called moderate factions such as the Free Syrian Army as well as an array of Islamist groups, including Jabhat Fateh Al-Sham, formerly known as al Nusra Front, which recently broke its ties with al Qaeda.
This post was syndicated from Vanguard News. It said the area the chemical weapons were launched from was controlled by Harakat Nour El Din Zenki, a rebel group which has been under scrutiny after footage emerged last month showing some of its men beheading a 12-year-old boy accused of being a pro-regime fighter.
“Since the attack began and until Tuesday midnight, 40 civilians have been killed on both sides of Aleppo, among them 22 children”, Abdel Rahman said.
It was Syria’s commercial hub until 2012, when clashes left it roughly divided between the government-held west and rebels in the east.
With the Syrian army making all this progress in Aleppo, the rebels, including jihadi ones, unleashed several attacks over the past week to try to break the government-imposed siege. While the two countries argue over a possible peace plan, a battle for eastern Aleppo has erupted.
SANA said the air force carried out 100 air strikes on rebel positions in the countryside of Aleppo on Wednesday, managing to foil a wide-scale offensive of the rebels, the third to hit within a couple of weeks.
The latest reports from the area are that the government, backed by Russian jets, has regained some ground.
Russian Federation and Syria did not make any immediate comment on the demand.
Russian bombing of USA trained groups in Syria has also dramatically undermined Washington’s moral and military standing.
In Damascus, a visiting top Iranian lawmaker said the Syrian government and its allies seek to “liberate” tens of thousands of Aleppo’s residents from the grip of what he called terrorist groups.
“There are going to be some bottom lines that we expect for us to cooperate with Russian Federation beyond the sort of deconfliction that we’re now doing-and that means restraint on the part of the regime that so far has not been forthcoming”, Mr. Obama said.
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This still image from Syrian state TV video, shows Syrian soldiers guiding civilians who are leaving the militant-controlled eastern parts of Aleppo, Syria, July 31, 2016.
