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'Dozens dead in gas attack' as Isil and Syrian regime battle over Palmyra
An unknown number of people died in suspected poison gas attack near Palmyra on Monday during intensifying fighting between Russian-backed Syrian forces and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).
Cases of suffocation and dead bodies with no visible injuries were reported amid a bombardment that killed at least 53 people near Uqairabat, an Isil held area north-west of the ancient city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Observatory did not specify who was responsible for the attack.
Amaq, Isil’s propaganda news agency, said 20 people had died and around 200 had been injured “as the result of a Russian air attack with Sarin gas.”
Ahmad al-Dbis, of the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM), said about 86 people had died, and about 250 were injured in the attacks. Russia and the Syrian army deny using chemical weapons.
United Nations investigations have previously accused both the Syrian government and Isil of using chemical weapons during the five-year civil war in Syria.
On Monday Isil were reportedly attempting to overrun the T4 airbase west of the city, the stronghold where government troops retreated to over the weekend.
The Russian ministry of defence on Monday blamed the United States for the setback in Palmyra, claiming that a pause in a US-backed offensive against Raqqa, Isil’s defacto capital in Syria, had allowed the group to concentrate its forces for the offensive.
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, suggested Washington had deliberately allowed Isil forces to escape from Mosul in Iraq.
“It has been staged to give a respite to bandits in eastern Aleppo," Mr Lavrov said in Belgrade. The Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish-led coalition spearheading the assault on Raqqa, said its offensive was continuing.