Syrians Trade Blame over 'Poison' Attack in Hama
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربيةA regime air strike in Hama province of central Syria caused "suffocation and poisoning", an NGO said Saturday, while state media accused rebels of releasing chlorine gas.
Elsewhere, fighting raged all day in Aleppo near an air force intelligence base, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights labeling it "the most violent since the beginning of the battle" in the northern city in mid-2012.
And a bomb blast and shelling in areas of Damascus killed four people, the official news agency SANA reported.
In the rebel-held town of Kafr Zita in Hama province, residents choking from poisoning were hospitalized after raids with barrel bombs on Friday, the Observatory quoted medics as saying.
"Regime planes bombed Kafr Zita with explosive barrels that produced thick smoke and odors and led to cases of suffocation and poisoning," the monitoring group's head Rami Abdel Rahman said.
Anti-government activists in the area posted on Facebook that "the regime bombarded Kafr Zinta with toxic products, (with) 'chlorine gas', causing more than 100 cases of suffocation".
But state television said that Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, a key force in Syria's three-year armed revolt, had released chlorine in a deadly attack on the town.
"There is information that the terrorist Al-Nusra Front released toxic chorine... leading to the death of two people and causing more than 100 people to suffer from suffocation," it said.
"There is information that Al-Nusra Front is preparing to hit Wadi Deif in Idlib province and Morek in Hama province with toxic chlorine or sarin," the state broadcaster added.
Videos circulated by opposition activists on YouTube showed men and children in a field hospital coughing and showing symptoms of suffocation, while three young men are wearing oxygen masks.
In one video posted online, a man who appears to be a doctor said "the bombardment left a yellow-colored product, and a smell like chlorine gas, wounding more than 100 people including women and children."
There was no independent verification of either of the claims made by state media or opposition activists.
The opposition and much of the international community blamed the Syrian regime for a chemical attack last August outside Damascus that reportedly killed as many as 1,400 people.
The government denied responsibility, in turn blaming rebels, but agreed under threat of U.S. military action to turn over its chemical weapons stockpile for destruction.
In Aleppo, fierce fighting raged Saturday for the first time near a government intelligence center in the Zahra neighborhood, said Abdel Rahman.
He added that both government and opposition fighters had suffered "losses" and a large number of people fled the fighting.
Government warplanes pounded the nearby area of Lamrayun and the edges of the intelligence base.
The Observatory, which relies on a vast network of activists on the ground and medics for its information, said another 10 people were killed when Islamist rebels shelled regime-held areas of Aleppo, once Syria's economic capital.
More than 150,000 people have been killed in Syria since mid-March 2011, according to the Britain-based Observatory.
criminal regime that will not stop at anything to stay in power aided by a sectarian terror party that is stone age in its ideology and brainwashed followers.
yes, in fact many Nusra officials have been banned from entering the United States or attending U.N meetings for the very same reason.
Don’t worry, God is never blind to your tears, never deaf to your prayers, and never silent to your pains. He sees, He hears, and He will deliver.
Veritas
when it suits your claim Seymour hersh is right
when it doesn't suit your claim he is a lunatic
I guess that's why he has won a purlitzer prize in investigative reporting
he is a hired mouthpiece like mowaten and flamethrower. Bashar rockets or not Bashar rockets, as if Bashar cannot get any other rocket.
abraham : do not mix fanatic rules like those you mentioned with muslim rules... you know that they are two extremely different things!
when it comes to fanatism, the rules are the same for all, be them muslims or christians, both can be as cruel and inhumane....religion has nothing to do with it, but politics and terror!
how sad @veritas..... whenever I hear of an HA operative, commander, supporter is in harms way, I get depressed for days.
@full-closure: I don't know what it is, but there is something very very mystical about you.
Veritas
If you think people who leak info from CIA, or pentagon going to name names
I guess you are more naive than I Thought
May all supporters of M8 and their children face the same poison. That's what they deserve for supporting a dictator and terrorist organizations!
I suppose John Kerry will protest, "in the strongest terms" and Obama will sit on his hands while Russia keeps up their military supply to that bastard Assad. Why should you conform when no one holds you accountable? I wish the Republicans were in power; Assad would have been mincemeat.
@anonymetexasusa
is there a need to reply this stupid ft?
he does not make any sense in any of his comments, and he will contradict his same comments whenever he feels like it without shame.
I believe freechristian depicted him perfectly yesterday: the most stupid commentor on this site :)
simply put: none of ft's comments makes sense.