Photographs circulated by activists showed members of the volunteer White Helmets rescue group using hoses to wash down the injured, as well as at least two men with white foam around their mouths.Today’s gathering in Brussels has been billed as a follow-up to a donors’ conference last year in London, which raised about USD 11 billion (10 billion euros) for humanitarian aid programmes in the devastated country.The opposition accused the government forces of using “toxic substances” in its battle to repel the assault.Turkish experts evacuate a victim of a suspected chemical weapons attacks in the Syrian city of Idlib Beirut: Warplanes carried out a suspected toxic gas attack that killed at least 100 people in Syria’s rebel-held north western province of Idlib on Tuesday and left another 400 suffering from respiratory problems, a Syria medical relief group said.Today’s attack comes only days after forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad were accused of using chemical weapons in a counter-offensive in neighbouring Hama province.The death toll is likely to rise, according to the Union of Medical Care Organizations, a coalition of international aid agencies that funds hospitals in Syria and which is partly based in Paris.
It is regularly targeted in strikes by the regime, as well as Russian warplanes, and has also been hit by the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group, usually targeting jihadists.The monitor relies on a network of sources inside Syria for its information, says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to type, location, flight patterns and munitions used.The reported gas attack comes at the start of a two-day conference on Syria’s future hosted in Brussels by the European Union and the United Nations.On Thursday, air Nitrile Rubber Hoses Factory strikes on several areas in the north of Hama province left around 50 people suffering respiratory problems, according to the Observatory, which could not confirm the cause of the symptoms.Syria’s government officially joined the Chemical Weapons Convention and turned over its chemical arsenal in 2013, as part of a deal to avert US military action.More than 320,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.Idlib province is largely controlled by an alliance of rebels including former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front.
