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Syrian Opposition Claims 1,300 Killed In Chemical Attack

August 21, 2013

by RFE/RL

Syria's main opposition group says government forces have killed some 1,300 people in chemical-weapons attacks on a Damascus suburbs.

The Syrian National Coalition said at a press conference in Istanbul on August 21 that the attacks earlier in the day marked a significant turning point in the civil war.

Coalition member George Sabra said, "This time it [the attack] was for annihilation rather than terror."

Syria's government and military denied that they used chemical weapons in the August 21 assaults on rebel-held positions outside Damascus.

State television showed a military spokesman rejecting the claim.

"The media channels of sedition and misinformation who shed Syrian blood have lied as usual that the Syrian Arab Army used chemical weapons in the suburbs of Damascus today," the spokesman said.

"The general leadership of the army confirms these allegations are completely false and are a part of the dirty media war that is led by some countries against Syria."

Internet videos purportedly of victims of the chemical attack showed dead bodies on floors with no visible signs of injury.

Various Syrian opposition groups gave different figures for the number of people killed.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that a chemical-weapons barrage killed dozens of civilians. The opposition's Local Coordination Council said hundreds had died.

In Istanbul, Syrian National Council spokesman Khaled Saleh told Reuters that the government forces of President Bashar al-Assad were clearly responsible.

"It's very obvious to us that these chemical weapons were used and were carried out using ballistic missiles," Saleh said. "Only the regime has the capability and willingness to use them against innocent civilians."

Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby called on a team of UN chemical weapons inspectors that is already in Syria to "immediately go to eastern Ghouta to see the reality of the situation and investigate the circumstances of this crime."

UN Inspectors In Syria

The group of UN chemical-weapons inspectors arrived in Damascus on August 18. Syrian state TV said the opposition's allegations were meant to distract the UN inspectors from their mission, which could last at least two weeks.

The European Union condemned the suspected use of chemical weapons by Syrian government forces as "totally unacceptable" and called for an "immediate and thorough" investigation of the alleged chemical attacks.

EU foreign-policy chief Catherine Ashton told journalists in Brussels that charges by the National Coalition "should be immediately and thoroughly investigated."

But Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the claim could be "a provocation."

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement that Britain was concerned by reports that "hundreds of people, including children, have been killed in air strikes and a chemical-weapons attack on rebel-held areas near Damascus."

Hague said Britain would raise the claim of the Syrian government's use of chemical weapons at the UN Security Council.

France and Turkey have backed calls to send the UN inspectors to the scene of the attacks, with France pledging to raise the issue at the Security Council.

Syrian authorities and rebels have accused each other of using chemical weapons during the course of Syria's nearly 30-month civil war.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/syria-assad-poison-gas/25081573.html

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Syrian Opposition Claims 1,300 Killed In Chemical Attack