Reports of a gas attack in Aleppo tonight have been corroborated by multiple sources. The substance is currently unknown and is believed to have resulted in no deaths so far, with 41 injured according to the Assad regime's state media.
The Assad regime is claiming the gas was launched by rebel rockets and produced a "foul" smell. The smell would be inconsistent with chlorine, and the victims show no signs of nerve agent poisoning.
At this point it is entirely feasible that a form of gas that causes respiratory difficulties has been weaponised and launched from rebel-held parts of Northern Syria. Without more details it is impossible to know.
Previous chemical attacks in Syria, especially nerve agent attacks, have been easy to pin on the regime due to the logistics and substances involved, these attacks have been confirmed by independent UN investigators. This attack does not display these hallmarks.
In the past, regime chemical attacks have ended up accidentally targeting regime held areas due to the direction of the wind. The regime has consistently blamed all the chemical weapons attacks it carries out on rebels, and have recently been pushing propaganda about a new attack
There is a potential third possibility, that mortars may have hit some sort of chemical storage facility, which has caused the dispersion of toxic gas. At the moment, none of these options can be ruled out.
That said, there are opposition activists currently ruling out all possibility that the rebels may have weaponised some form of toxic gas and blaming this attack on the regime. There is currently no evidence to suggest this is the case.
At this current moment, the only thing I can confirm is that the attack appears to be legitimate, and the patients in hospital appear to be suffering from breathing difficulties.
If you truly care about justice and accountability in Syria, then it is important that these reports are taken seriously and investigated fully. Innocence cannot simply be determined by partisan observers without assessing the evidence.
If a rebel group is responsible for this heinous crime, this needs to be unconditionally condemned across the board. The use of chemical weapons is a war crime. The targeting of civilians is a war crime. The use of indiscriminate weapons is a war crime. Justice doesn't take sides
As I said Zouhir, more evidence is needed. From the videos I have witnessed, I have no reason to believe that the patients are not suffering from respitory difficulties caused by inhaling some form of toxic gas. This is all I can confirm.
Again, tear gas could be another possibility, especially considering nobody has died. At this moment, we just don't know. I do not feel comfortable with conjecture until we can at least confirm the method of dispersal and the substance involved.
It is important to stress that the regime's media apparatus cannot be trusted, and have been caught repeatedly lying about chemical weapons attacks in Syria. But, that said, until there is evidence that this is a lie, journalists are working based on speculation.
Speculation is not good enough when investigating war crimes.
AP now reporting Syrian opposition denials:
"Rebel commander Abdel-Salam Abdel-Razak says the opposition doesn't possess poisonous gases or the capabilities to lob them. Abdel-Razak served in Syria's chemical weapons program before defecting to join the opposition"
"Rebel commander Abdel-Salam Abdel-Razak says the opposition doesn't possess poisonous gases or the capabilities to lob them. Abdel-Razak served in Syria's chemical weapons program before defecting to join the opposition"
Pro-regime sources also claiming that the hospital has discharged patients and that the situation is under control, which would again suggest that the alleged gas is not chlorine.
At this point, without seeing the munition used in this alleged attack, there is little else to report on.
Meanwhile, more children were killed yesterday by the regime. Sadly, unless some sort of gas is involved, very few people care about the murder of Syrian civilians.
Update: 20 hours or so later, still no evidence of a munition used to disperse a gas. This is concerning, as is the fact that the regime has resumed bombarding opposition territory. When these attacks happen in opposition territory, we have normally seen a munition by now.
The death toll remains the same: zero. At this current point, we have no idea who launched this attack, if indeed an attack was carried out, and we don't know what the substance was. Tear gas is as logical a theory as a crude rebel munition.
This could still change, and presumably it will, but so far, all we know is that some people were admitted to hospital briefly with red eyes and breathing difficulties. Nobody died and they were released in the same night.
Putin and Assad have certainly looked to capitalise on the situation, as more bombs rain down on residential neighbourhoods. It's important that the media does not reinforce their narrative unless it has established the facts. The wait continues.
