Syrian Government Kills At Least Four in Gas Attack In Aleppo

Hospital officials in Aleppo told the Reuters News Agency that four people, including women and children, were killed and another 55 suffered from breathing difficulties from poison gas, apparently chlorine. The hospital officials and other residents of Aleppo said that Syrian government troops dropped the chlorine gas alongside barrel bombs on a neighborhood in war-torn Aleppo. The manager of the Al Quds hospital in Aleppo said he was preserving pieces of patients clothing and fragments form the barrel bombs as evidence for future analysis. The Syrian government attack came hours after Aleppo residents danced in the streets after Russia, which has conducting air strikes along with Syrian troops, said it would observe a three-hour daily ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to reach the 300,000 residents of Aleppo who have been under siege. Human rights groups have warned of a deteriorating humanitarian situation there. The northern city of Aleppo, which was Syria’s most populated city before the war, is split between rebel and government held districts. Troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have been fighting to regain control of Aleppo, which would be a major victory for them. The apparent use of chlorine gas would violate agreements not to use chemical weapons in the conflict. Both the government and rebels have denied allegations of using gas in the past. UN investigators found that sarin gas was used in Eastern Ghouta in 2013. The US accused Bashar al-Assad of that attack, which killed more than 1400 people. Later that year, the Syrian government agreed to destroy the country’s stockpiles of chemical weapons, a process reportedly completed earlier this year.