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[Dead Man]

Source: ABC.net.au

The Syrian regime and the rebels are blaming each other for an alleged chemical weapons attack which killed at least 25 people in a village near Aleppo.

The Syrian government accused rebels of using chemical weapons in a rocket attack in Khan al-Assal, saying rebels fired a rocket carrying chemical agents that killed 25 people and wounded dozens.

But rebel fighters said government forces were responsible for the attack, and the US said it had seen "no evidence" that the rebels were to blame.

"Fighting was raging in Khan al-Assal this morning and the regime's army hit the town with a long-range missile equipped with a chemical warhead. It also hit the area with conventional weapons from the air and with artillery," Louay al-Meqdad, the political coordinator for the rebel command, told the Reuters news agency.

A senior rebel commander, Qassim Saadeddine, who is also a spokesman for the Higher Military Council in Aleppo, added: "We believe they fired a Scud with chemical agents."

The rebels said injured people reported cases of suffocation and a strong smell of chlorine in the air after the missile hit the town.

A photographer for the Reuters news agency in the village echoed those claims.

He said victims in Aleppo hospitals were suffering breathing problems and that people had said they could smell chlorine after the attack.

"I saw mostly women and children," said the photographer, who cannot be named for his own safety.

He quoted victims at the University of Aleppo hospital and the al-Rajaa hospital as saying people were dying in the streets and in their houses.

Syrian state TV aired footage of what it said were casualties of the attack arriving at one hospital in Aleppo.

Men, women and children were rushed inside on stretchers as doctors inserted medical drips into their arms and oxygen tubes into their mouths. None had visible wounds to their bodies, but some interviewed said they had trouble breathing.

An unidentified doctor interviewed on the channel said the attack was either "phosphorus or poison" but did not elaborate.

A young girl on a stretcher wept as she said: "My chest closed up. I couldn't talk. I couldn't breathe ... We saw people falling dead to the floor. My father fell, he fell and now we don't know where he is. God curse them, I hope they die."

A man in a green surgical mask, who said he had been helping to evacuate the casualties, said: "It was like a powder, and anyone who breathed it in fell to the ground."

The United States and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons both said they had not been able to independently verify whether chemical weapons had been used.

"We are looking carefully at allegations of chemical weapons use, we are evaluating them," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.

"We have no evidence to substantiate the charge that the opposition has used chemical weapons," he added.

"We are deeply sceptical of a regime that has lost all credibility and we would also warn the regime against making these kinds of charges as any kind of pretext or cover for its use of chemical weapons."

The US State Department echoed those comments and the Pentagon said it was monitoring the situation.

"I have no information at this time to corroborate any claims that chemical weapons have been used in Syria," Pentagon spokesman George Little said.

"The use of chemical weapons in Syria would be deplorable."

United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said the use of chemical weapons by any party under any circumstances would constitute an "outrageous crime."

Speaking at the United Nations in New York, Foreign Minister Bob Carr said Australia was alarmed by the potential development.

"At least one of our like-minded partners is taking [the reports] seriously, and of course like us seeking to reach verification," he said.

"This would be a shocking precedent if it's the case."

Russia's foreign ministry backed the Syrian government's claim that the rebels were responsible, calling the attack "a dangerous escalation".

Last year US president Barack Obama said there would be "enormous consequences" if chemical weapons were used in the Syrian civil war, which has so far killed more than 70,000 people.

So... government attack, government propaganda, rebel propaganda, or what?

 

[Eighty Deuce]

I spent a lot of time working with Kurds in northern Iraq. The locals refer to the birth defects from Saddams chemical attacks as "Bad Blood". If this turns out to be true, the long term effects may be devastating.

 

[dripdripsplash]

Could be any of these. Do we have any reports of the rebels getting their hands on chemical weapons?

I think the regime knows that if they use chemical weapons they would be crossing the line forcing the international community to act more actively or with outright arming of the opposition so I don't think the regime is the guilty one here also because of the pace in which they condemned the attack for use in there PR-battle throughout the world.

Maybe a no-name batallion got there hands on one .. Who knows.

 

[BeerSnob]

Give it a few days and let someone verify it first. Both sides have accused each other of chemical warfare for a while now.

 

[7aged]

I suspect chemical weapons of that kind (missile delivered) are well beyond the capabilities of non state agents. I really doubt the rebels are capable of launching such an attack so if it really did happen the likelihood then is that it was the regime that was responsible.

 

[Liberty4all]

Its all over CNN now.

false flag event?

 

[hym]

Since it was Syrian state television that made the initial accusation, what are the odds that al-Assad has decided that they would be better off with foreign involvement? the administration can flee to Iran and hope Shias remaining in Syria (their base, 13% of the country) will be better off with some Western supervision to preserve at least some order and secular aspects instead of an uncontrolled Sunni Islamist revenge bloodbath. Nobody at this point believes the regime was going to regain control over the country anyway so what other options does he have left?

Syria also executed some air strikes on a border town in Lebanon this week and that would fit in the pattern of trying to incite foreign interventions.

The fact that both sides blame each other now while neither has offered evidence at least makes me suspect there wasn't a chemical attack.