At least 11 people were left struggling to breathe on Saturday after airstrikes on Syria’s rebel town of Douma, as rescuers alleged that toxic gases were used.
Syrian state media quickly denied that troops had deployed chemical weapons on Douma, the last opposition-held town in the battered Eastern Ghouta enclave.
Regime forces resumed a military blitz of Douma on Friday after an apparent breakdown in negotiations between regime backer Moscow and Jaish Al-Islam, the rebels that hold the town.
On Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said airstrikes on the northern edges of the town had left 11 people, including five children, “suffocating and suffering shortness of breath.” The White Helmets rescue forces said Douma had been hit with toxic gas.
“Cases of suffocation between the civilians in neighborhood in the city Douma after it was targeted by poison gas chlorine,” it wrote on its English-language Twitter account.
The Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) also told AFP that medical staff they supported inside Douma had reported chlorine use.
“I spoke to one of the doctors inside the town, who told me... they received a number of wounded with symptoms from chlorine gas,” said SAMS advocacy director Mohammad Katoub, based in Turkey. Syria’s regime has been accused of using toxic gas including chlorine and sarin throughout the seven-year conflict.
Separately, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused France of abetting terrorists by “hosting them” at the Elysee Palace, amid a diplomatic row between the NATO allies over Paris’s support for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
On March 30 after President Emmanuel Macron met a Syrian delegation including the YPG and its political arm, the PYD, and gave assurances of French support to help stabilize northern Syria against Daesh.
Turkey also criticized the US for sending what it said were mixed messages on Syria, saying Washington was sowing confusion by equivocating about its future role in the country. “The president of the United States says ‘We’re going to get out of Syria very soon’ and then others say, ‘No, we are staying’,” Ibrahim Kalin said, referring to comments from Donald Trump and other officials.
“Obviously it does create a lot of confusion on the ground, as well as for us. We would like to see some clarity, for them to decide what is the next step, what is the ultimate goal there.”
Syrians hit by new ‘toxic gas attack’ as regime resume airstrikes on Douma
Syrians hit by new ‘toxic gas attack’ as regime resume airstrikes on Douma
- Regime airstrike resume on Douma to force rebels to surrender
- 'The Russians are making humiliating demands for Douma fighters', rebels spokesperson
First responders enter devastated Aleppo neighborhood after days of deadly fighting
- The US-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Daesh group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria’s national army
ALEPPO, Syria: First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.
The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.
The US-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Daesh group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria’s national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”
The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.
Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid Al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.
The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.
On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.
Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.
“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”
Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.
Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.
“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.
