Takfiri terrorists shell Aleppo district with chemical gas, 23 killed

Twenty-three people have been killed and over 100 others injured in a chemical attack by Daesh terrorists against members of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in a neighborhood of the northwestern Syrian city of Aleppo.

The attack was carried out at around noon local time (0900 GMT) on Thursday, and caused choking among those affected, Russia's RT TV network quoted a local Kurdish journalist as saying.

“The attack was carried out between 11.30 and 12.00 local time. The gas that was used in this attack caused choking and malaise among those affected. This indicates that poisoning substances were used in the attack,” local journalist, Nawrouz Uthman, reported.

Videos posted online purportedly show yellow gas rising over Sheikh Maqsood neighborhood in Aleppo, located some 355 kilometers (220 miles) north of the capital, Damascus.

The Kurdish Red Crescent Society (Heyva Sor) also confirmed the reports.

Walaat Mamu, a doctor working at a local hospital, was quoted as saying that several victims came to the hospital with symptoms of suffocation after the shelling.

“The victims mostly come with symptoms of suffocation as a result of the shelling of the Sheikh Maqsood by toxic gases. It is not established exactly which specific poisonous substance was used in the shelling. However, symptoms that the victims have been showing make it possible to ascertain that they were poisoned as a result of [inhaling] banned toxic gasses,” the health worker said.

Also on Thursday, at least two people lost their lives and nearly a dozen others sustained injuries as a result of militant attacks in Aleppo.

The development came only three days after al-Ikhbariyah Syria satellite television news network reported that Daesh terrorists had fired a barrage of rockets, carrying mustard gas, at a Syrian military airport in the eastern city of Dayr al-Zawr.

In August 2013, hundreds of people were killed in a chemical attack in the Ghouta suburb of Damascus. According to reports, the rockets used in the assault were handmade and contained sarin.

A report by the Syrian-American Medical Society said Daesh has carried out more than 160 attacks involving “poisonous or asphyxiating agents, such as sarin, chlorine, and mustard gas” since the beginning of the Syrian conflict in 2011. At least 1,491 people have been killed in the chemical attacks.

According to a February report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond Syria’s borders.

Damascus accuses Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar of funding and arming anti-Syria terrorist groups, including Daesh.

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