Image used for representational purpose only 
World

Around 100 Syrians struggle to breathe in Aleppo after 'toxic gas' attack

On Saturday, an AFP photographer saw men, women and children being treated at an Aleppo hospital for breathing difficulties. 

From our online archive

DAMASCUS: Around 100 Syrians have been hospitalised with breathing difficulties in Aleppo, state media and a monitor said Sunday, after allegations rebels fired "toxic gas" on the regime-held city the previous day.

A rebel alliance in nearby Idlib denied any involvement in the alleged attack.

State news agency SANA reported "107 cases of breathing difficulties" in an updated toll on Sunday. 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said a total of 94 people were hospitalised, but most had been discharged and the 31 cases that remained were not critical.

Late Saturday, state media accused rebels of launching an attack with "toxic gas" on the northern city in what health official Ziad Hajj Taha said was a "probable" chlorine attack.

On Saturday, an AFP photographer saw men, women and children being treated at an Aleppo hospital for breathing difficulties. 

Some were sitting, while others lay down, breathing through with oxygen masks.

The regime controls Aleppo city, but rebels and jihadists are present to the west of the city in the country's last major opposition bastion of Idlib.

But a rebel coalition there on Sunday denied involvement.

"We at the National Liberation Front deny the criminal, lying regime's allegations that revolutionaries targeted the city of Aleppo with any missiles and especially not any containing chlorine gas," it said.

Other groups in the area include the jihadist-dominated Hayat Tahrir al-Sham alliance and the Al-Qaeda-linked Hurras al-Deen group, neither of whom have commented on the alleged attack.

Over the course of Syria's seven-year war, international human rights groups have repeatedly accused belligerents -- especially the regime -- of carrying out chemical attacks.

The conflict has killed more than 360,000 people and displaced millions, according to the Observatory.

All set for third edition of Ramnath Goenka Sahithya Samman today

Centre floats draft labour rules: 90-day work for gig workers’ social security benefits  

'Thinking of you': Zohran Mamdani pens note to Umar Khalid as US lawmakers urge India to ensure him fair trial

Contaminated water caused diarrhoea outbreak in Indore, lab confirms

Stray dogs issue: Delhi Police files FIR after govt accuses AAP of spreading misinformation

SCROLL FOR NEXT