Syria Again Used Chemical Weapons: HRW

In the final days of its military campaign to re-take the city of Aleppo from rebel forces, troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad again used chemical weapons according to a report released on Monday by the international group Human Rights Watch. According to HRW, nine Syrians including four children died from the chlorine gas that was dropped from helicopters in one attack. Injuries from the chemical weapons numbered in the hundreds. HRW emphasized that the pattern of the attacks indicated careful coordination by the military and clearly ruled-out rogue operations by a few. The report also charged that the use of gas was not restricted to a single incident, but that eight chemical attacks were verified and a number of other chlorine gas attacks are believed to have taken place. The Syrians were receiving assistance from Russian forces during the time the gas attacks took place but there was no evidence to directly tie the Russians in to the use of unconventional weapons.