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Suspected gas attack in Syria reportedly kills dozens

Posted at 7:14 PM, Apr 04, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-04 19:14:04-04

Editor’s Note: This story contains graphic imagery.

At least 70 people, including at least 10 children, have been killed in what is suspected to be one of the deadliest chemical attacks in Syria in years, activist groups say.

Airstrikes hit the rebel-held city of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province on Tuesday morning, giving off a “poisonous gas,” according to Anas al-Diab, an activist with the Aleppo Media Center.

The attack, which has been blamed on the Syrian regime by activists and condemned by international leaders, has reportedly left hundreds injured. The Syrian military denied using chemical weapons and said rebels were responsible. World leaders called the reported use of chemical weapons an outrage.

Washington backed its allies but blamed the Obama administration which it said “did nothing” — despite having warned President Bashar al- Assad’s regime in 2012 that use of chemical weapons would constitute the crossing of a “red line.”

“These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administration’s weakness and irresolution,” the White House said in a statement.

Doctor: ‘I’ve never seen anything like it’

Many casualties were the result of asphyxiation, doctors said. Videos on social media purporting to be from the scene show people, including children, who appear unresponsive; others struggle to breathe or wear oxygen masks.

A doctor in a hospital close to Khan Sheikhoun told CNN: “Today around 7:30 a.m., about 125 injuries arrived to our hospital. Twenty-five of them were already dead, 70% to 80% of the wounded people were kids and women.

“The symptoms were pale skin, sweating, narrow or pin-eye pupils, very intense respiratory detachments. Those symptoms match the usage of sarin.”

The doctor, who cannot be named for security reasons, said tests were needed to identify whether sarin gas was to blame.

Dr. Fares al-Jundi rushed to the hospital. He estimated there were 500 wounded people. They covered the floors of the entire hospital, from the patients’ rooms to the operating rooms and the corridors.

The doctor said whole families were killed. They died of asphyxiation; foam covered their mouths. Many died suddenly, he said. “I believe this horrible memory will stay with me for the rest of my life.”

Chaos, confusion at the scene

Hadi al Abdullah, a citizen journalist, arrived at the scene two hours after he says a single gas rocket hit the town.

Abdullah, who had common side effects of a nerve gas attack — blurred vision, a splitting headache and lethargy — told CNN the scene was chaos. Families died in their homes, and in the streets, children risked exposure looking for their parents.

At first, people were unaware it was a gas attack, Abdullah said. People who rushed to help others were overtaken by the gas, including several White Helmets, who had to be rescued by others from the group, also known as the Syrian Civil Defense.

The Aleppo Media Center put the death toll at 70 but there were different numbers from other groups. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 58 were dead, including 10 children. The High Negotiations Committee, an umbrella opposition group, said as many as 100 died.

Syrian military denies responsibility

The Syrian army “categorically denies the use of chemical and poisonous material in Khan Sheikhoun,” the General Command said in a statement.

“The Syrian army holds the terrorist groups and those supporting them responsible for the use of chemical and poisonous material and for the careless wasting of innocent civilians’ lives to achieve their despicable goals and agendas,” the statement said.

The nature of the substance used in the attack has not been officially confirmed, and it is unclear whether the planes involved were Syrian.

In an apparent reference to the crisis, two state-run Syrian media outlets earlier reported an explosion at a “rebel poison gas factory” in the countryside of Idlib province, implying that it was an accident related to rebels building chemical weapons. Idlib province is largely controlled by an alliance of rebel forces and is regularly targeted in airstrikes by the Syrian military and its ally, Russia.

The Russian Defense Ministry said none of its jets carried out airstrikes in the area, according to a ministry statement carried by state-run news agency Tass.

The Syrian Coalition, an umbrella opposition group, referred to the suspected chemical attack as a “crime similar to that in Eastern Ghouta in 2013 that the international community allowed to pass without accountability or punishment.”

The tweet was in reference to a 2013 chemical attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, which was blamed on the Syrian regime and prompted US President Barack Obama to threaten military action.

If Tuesday’s reports of a chemical attack by the regime are confirmed, experts say it could be the biggest since Ghouta.

International condemnation

An emergency United Nations Security Council session has been scheduled for Wednesday morning, according to US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who called for the meeting, described the attack as a “despicable act.”

Speaking at a news conference with his German counterpart, UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson suggested the attack could amount to a war crime.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote a series of tweets, saying in one: “There’s no, none, no excuse whatsoever for the deliberate attacks on civilians and on children, especially with cruel and outlawed chemical weapons.”

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on Russia and Iran “to exercise their influence over the Syrian regime” and that the two nations “bear great moral responsibility for these deaths.”

McCain: Assad must pay a price

US Sen. John McCain called for President Donald Trump to send a strong signal to Assad that the attack will not be tolerated.

Referring to the 2013 chemical attack, McCain told CNN: “We’ve seen this movie before, it was when Barack Obama said they would have a red line, they crossed it and he did nothing. Bashar Assad and his friends, the Russians, take note of what Americans say.”

The Ghouta attack prompted Obama to ask Congress to authorize military action against Syria in 2013. Shortly after, Syria agreed to a Russian proposal to give up control of its chemical weapons, leading Obama to retreat from threats of military action.

Analyst: Regime may increase attacks

Haid Haid, a Syrian columnist and researcher, told CNN that he thinks the United States is “not interested in any way challenging the rule of Assad.”

“The regime has been systematically using small scale (chemical) attacks over a long time in order to normalize the use of those attacks,” said Haid, an associate fellow at Chatham House, an international policy think tank based in London.

“Once the regime is sure that the attacks won’t trigger any sort of reaction from the international community, I believe the regime will start increasing those attacks.”

Since the civil war began in 2011, an estimated 400,000 Syrians have been killed, according to figures issued by the United Nations last year.