Activists say nearly 500 killed in gas attack near Damascus

By Dominic Evans and Khaled Yacoub Oweis
BEIRUT/AMMAN | Wed Aug 21, 2013 8:53am EDT

(Reuters) - Syrian activists accused President Bashar al-Assad's forces of launching a gas attack that killed nearly 500 people on Wednesday, in what would, if confirmed, be by far the worst reported use of chemical arms in the two-year-old civil war.

An opposition monitoring group, citing figures compiled from medical clinics in the Damascus suburbs, put the death toll at 494 - 90 percent of them killed by gas, the rest by bombing and conventional arms.

The rebel Syrian National Coalition said 650 people had been killed. Other rebel groups cited even higher figures.

Images, including some taken by freelance photographers and supplied to Reuters, showed scores of bodies including of small children, laid out on the floor of a clinic with no visible signs of injuries. Reuters was not independently able to verify the cause of their death.

The Syrian armed forces strongly denied using chemical weapons. Syrian state television said the accusations were fabricated to distract a team of U.N. chemical weapons experts which arrived three days ago.

Western countries called urgently for the inspectors to be dispatched to the scene to investigate what would be the deadliest single incident of the Syrian war. If confirmed, it would also be the worst known use of chemical weapons since Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein gassed thousands of Kurds in the town of Halabja in 1988.

Activists said rockets with chemical agents hit the Damascus suburbs of Ain Tarma, Zamalka and Jobar during fierce pre-dawn bombardment by government forces.

The Damascus Media Office monitoring centre said 150 bodies were counted in Hammouriya, 100 in Kfar Batna, 67 in Saqba, 61 in Douma, 76 in Mouadamiya and 40 in Irbib, all suburbs of Damascus.

SYMPTOMS

A nurse at Douma Emergency Collection facility, Bayan Baker, earlier told Reuters the death toll collated from medical centers was at least 213.

"Many of the casualties are women and children. They arrived with their pupils dilated, cold limbs and foam in their mouths. The doctors say these are typical symptoms of nerve gas victims," the nurse said. Exposure to sarin gas causes pupils in the eyes to shrink to pinpoint sizes and foaming at the lips.

The U.N. team is in Syria investigating allegations that both rebels and army forces used chemical weapons in the past, one of the main disputes in international diplomacy over Syria.

The Swedish scientist leading the team, Ake Sellstrom, said the reports should be looked into, but doing so would require a request from a U.N. member state.

France said the mission must be sent to the site to "investigate immediately". Turkey made a similar call. Britain said it was deeply concerned and would raise the issue at the U.N. Security Council, adding the attacks would be "a shocking escalation" if confirmed.

Extensive amateur video and photographs appeared on the Internet. A video purportedly shot in the Kafr Batna neighborhood showed a room filled with more than 90 bodies, many of them children and a few women and elderly men. Most of the bodies appeared ashen or pale but with no visible injuries. About a dozen were wrapped in blankets.

Other footage showed doctors treating people in makeshift clinics. One video showed the bodies of a dozen people lying on the floor of a clinic, with no visible wounds. The narrator in the video said they were all members of a single family. In a corridor outside lay another five bodies.

A Syrian military officer appeared on state television and said the allegations were untrue, and a sign of "hysteria and floundering" by Assad's opponents. Information Minister Omran Zoabi said the allegations were "illogical and fabricated".

The head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition said Assad's forces had carried out a massacre: "This is a chance for the (U.N. inspectors) to see with their own eyes this massacre and know that this regime is a criminal one," Ahmed Jarba said.

could be true, could be fabricated psy-ops, could even be a false flag.

at this point we don;t really know jack squat but watch as the drums of war beat even louder. i never thought assad was a good guy, but that was never the point to me anyways. fact is the West has no right to undermine Syrian sovereignty and sending arms to the rebels has escalated the conflict and made things worse.

also: this news comes after our buddies in Egypt massacred some 500+ protesters. yet all Obama does there is "freeze" military aid and we're supposed to be satisfied.

ilmdge posted:

thats the joke..

you are

(Reuters) - Syrian activists accused President Bashar al-Assad's forces of launching a gas attack that killed nearly 500 people on Wednesday, in what would, if confirmed, be by far the worst reported use of chemical arms in the two-year-old civil war.

An opposition monitoring group, citing figures compiled from medical clinics in the Damascus suburbs, put the death toll at 494 - 90 percent of them killed by gas, the rest by bombing and conventional arms.

so the gas attack killed nearly 500 people... but... (494)(0.9) = 445 people killed by gas... not "nearly 500"... article contradicts itself in first paragraphs. lion assad.

HenryKrinkle posted:

i guess no one here wants to defend assad anymore so we're just joking about tom's farts lmao

you got our number krink.

HenryKrinkle posted:

babyfinland posted:

wait do you seriously think assad isn't using gas lol

the revisionist narrative people are creating around assad is really hilarious

FWIW: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/05/us-syria-crisis-un-idUSBRE94409Z20130505

yeah probably everyone is doing horrendous shit to everyone, its a war

ilmdge posted:

babyfinland posted:

wait do you seriously think assad isn't using gas lol

the revisionist narrative people are creating around assad is really hilarious

i said we'll see what happened later. some guy posted something in d&d thread with no source saying it was a rogue syrian officer who did the chemical attack. someone else asked for a link but everyone in the thread ignored him and just started talking like it was definitely true. my point is trying to do a play-by-play of everything that happens in a war when you;'re some dope on another continent is pretty stupid.

i was talking to krinkle.

and yes trying to follow this and without knowing arabic is completely pointless

HenryKrinkle posted:

i guess no one here wants to defend assad anymore so we're just joking about tom's farts lmao

yeah this forum is really really bad and i need to be made all powerful to enact swift heavy handed judgment