April 8, 2018 - Syrian doctors and rescue workers said Sunday that scores of people had died in an apparent chemical attack on a besieged enclave near Damascus, as government forces escalated their offensive to recapture one of the last rebel strongholds near the capital.
叙利亚东古塔区遭到化学武器袭击，一名出现呼吸困难症状的孩童在医院接受治疗，大马士革。根据叙利亚民间救援组织「白盔」（White Helmets）报道，4月7日晚，叙政府军向东古塔区杜马镇（Douma）投掷毒气炸弹，释放的氯气和沙林毒气造成至少150人丧生，超过1000名平民出现呼吸困难、口吐白沫、眼睛灼伤等中毒症状。叙利亚政府军否认其使用了化学武器，宣称这是反对派捏造的虚假消息。摄影师：Halil el-Abdullah
At least 40 people were killed in the attack in Douma in eastern Ghouta, about 12 miles from Damascus, according to the Syrian-American Medical Society (SAMS), a Washington-based nonprofit that supports health facilities in the area.
The State Department said it was monitoring mass casualty reports, describing them as “horrifying” and urging “an immediate response from the international community.”
The Syrian government and its allies “must be held accountable and any further attacks prevented immediately,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. She said Russia, the Syrian government’s main backer, was ultimately responsible for the attacks.
It was unclear Sunday where exactly the attack took place, nor was it certain what type of chemicals were used. Local medical workers have alleged the use of chlorine gas on multiple occasions but said that symptoms witnessed Sunday could suggest that a more lethal substance had been used.
Syrian state media, however, denied government involvement, instead accusing Ghouta's rebels of “fabrications” as Syrian troops closed in.
The State Department said that a hospital had been targeted, and local civil defense forces reported finding entire families suffocated in their homes and in neighboring shelters. It was not possible to independently confirm those claims.
Syrian doctors and rescue workers on Sunday shared with journalists graphic images of men, women and children they said had been killed or wounded in the attack. Some of the footage showed piles of bodies inside homes or slumped in concrete stairwells, foam visible on their noses and mouths. In other videos, civilians streamed into a chaotic field clinic where workers attempted to treat those affected, including an ashen-faced man who appeared to convulse.
More than 1,000 people have been killed in eastern Ghouta, of which Douma is the largest city, since the Syrian army and allied Russian forces began a punishing assault to root rebels from the area in February. A United Nations Security Council resolution failed to quell the fighting, and over the past month, more than 130,000 Syrians have left eastern Ghouta as part of evacuation deals between rebels and government forces, the U.N. said.
As many as 150,000 people remain in Douma, where the humanitarian situation is “severe” and food commodities are “in short supply,” according to the U.N.'s Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The last aid convoy to reach Douma was on March 15.
The latest attack, however, comes after a temporary cease-fire between rebels and pro-government forces, including Russia, collapsed. The two sides reportedly could not agree on conditions for the evacuation of opposition fighters. The hard-line Jaish al-Islam group controls the area now under attack.
Citing a military source, Syria's state news agency said the Syrian army was making swift progress in Douma and “does not need to use any chemical materials as claimed by terrorists’ media affiliates.”
From: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/dozens-killed-in-apparent-chemical-weapons-attack-on-civilians-in-eastern-ghouta--rescue-workers/2018/04/08/231bba18-3ac0-11e8-af3c-2123715f78df_story.html?utm_term=.3e404448f5fc
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