Syria crisis: Rebels claim hundreds killed in government chemical weapons attack - Wednesday 21 August

Thank you for all your comments. Here is a roundup of the day's developments:

Syria

Opposition activists have accused government forces of using chemical weapons in attacks on rebel-held areas in the Damascus suburbs. The death toll is unclear, with different groups issuing different estimates, but most put the figure in the hundreds. Leading opposition figure George Sabra claimed 1,300 have been killed, while the Local Coordination Committees, put the death toll at 1,360. Other figures were significantly lower. Leading opposition figure d The Guardian cannot independently verify the figures.

Numerous graphic videos have been posted online, showing people (many of them children) without wounds with a range of symptoms including constricted pupils, difficulty breathing, foaming at the mouth, and shaking or fits. Other videos show dozens of corpses lined up. Experts have said that they appear to show evidence of use of a poisonous gas but it is impossible to tell which one without further investigation.

The alleged attacks took place as a UN inspections team is in Damascus to investigate previous incidents in which chemical weapons are claimed to have been used. The team only has a mandate to visit specific sites, as agreed with the Syrian government, but the head of the mission, Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom, said it "should be looked into". However, that would require a member state to approach the UN secretary general first.

The Syrian government denied the attacks describing the reports as "completely baseless". Syria's ambassador to Russia said the reports were "fabricated and aimed at misleading international inspectors". But state media reported that "a series of operations were carried out against the armed terrorist groups in the villages of Jobar, Irbeen and Zamalka", all areas that were allegedly subjected to the chemical weapons attack. And pro-government media in Damascus claimed that the military has launched its largest offensive since the start of the conflict, with artillery and air attacks paving the way for a ground offensive.

The UK, France, Germany, the EU and the Arab League were among those who expressed concern about reports of the attacks and called for the UN to investigate the allegations, with UK foreign secretary William Hague and French president Francois Hollande both saying they would refer the matter to the UN. 

Hague said:

These reports are uncorroborated and we are urgently seeking more information. But it is clear that if they are verified, it would mark a shocking escalation in the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

Egypt

Charles Lister, from IHS Jane’s Terrorism & Insurgency Centre, tweets that pro-government media in Damascus are claiming that the military has launched its largest offensive since the start of the conflict, with artillery and air attacks paving the way for a ground offensive. 

Jihadist group Liwa al-Islam says it has launched Grad rockets at Bashar al-Assad's hometown of Qardaha in retaliation for the Ghouta attacks.

The alleged death toll continues to rise. 

George Sabra, a leading opponent of Assad, said that 1,300 have been killed. He told a news conference in Istanbul:

Today's crimes are ... not the first time the regime has used chemical weapons. But they constitute a turning point in the regime's operations. This time it was for annihilation rather than terror.

The Local Coordination Committees activist group claims 1,360 have been killed. It is impossible for the Guardian to verify the number of deaths.

Here's what former Republican presidential nominee, John McCain - who has urged military intervention by the US in Syria for some time now - has to say about the alleged attacks

Saudi Arabia, which has been supplying arms to rebel fighters, has called for an emergency UN security council meeting to discuss the reports of a chemical attack. Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said: 

It is time for the security council to shoulder its responsibility and overcome differences between its members and restore the confidence of the international community by convening immediately to issue a clear and deterrent resolution that will put an end to this human crisis.

The European Union called for a "thorough and immediate" investigation of the alleged chemical attack. A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said:

We have seen with grave concern the reports of the possible use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime. Such accusations should be immediately and thoroughly investigated.

The EU reiterates that any use of chemical weapons, by any side in Syria, would be totally unacceptable.

A very upsetting video has been sent through (WARNING: distressing footage) by a Damascus based activist, purporting to show a toddler, allegedly a victim of the chemical weapons attack, in his death throes. 

This video, the location and date of which has been corroborated by verification site Storyful, purports to show Jobar, in eastern Ghouta, being struck by rockets after the alleged chemical weapons attack.

Syria's ambassador to Russia has dismissed accusations that regime forces used chemical weapons in an attack on the Damascus suburbs. From Reuters: 

"That is not true," Ambassador Riad Haddad was quoted as saying by Interfax.

"All information on that matter is fabricated and aimed at misleading international inspectors," he said, referring to the UN experts looking into possible cases of use of chemical weapons in the Syrian conflict.

International pressure is mounting for an investigation into the alleged chemical weapon attack(s) in Syria.

France, like the UK, is to ask the UN to visit the site of the alleged attacks. From AP:

President Francois Hollande, speaking today at a regular Cabinet meeting, said the latest allegations "require verification and confirmation," said the government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem. He would ask the UN to go to the site "to shed full light" on the allegations.

German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle has said that the UN team must be granted "immediate access".

A court has reportedly ordered the release of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. From Reuters:

An Egyptian court ordered the release of former President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday, a judicial and a security source said, meaning he could leave prison later in the day as there is no longer any legal grounds for his detention. 

Mubarak, 85, is being retried on charges of ordering the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that led to his downfall. However, he has already served out the maximum amount of pretrial detention permitted in that case. 

Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison last year for failing to prevent the killing of demonstrators. But a court accepted his appeal earlier this year and ordered a retrial.

UPDATE: His lawyer has told Reuters he could be freed tomorrow.

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The UN is "trying to find out more" about the alleged chemical weapon attacks.

While the Syrian government has denied using chemical weapons in eastern Ghouta, it has confirmed carrying out operations against the rebels in the areas opposition activists say were targeted. The state news agency Sana reports:

A series of operations were carried out against the armed terrorist groups in the villages of Jobar, Irbeen and Zamalka in Damascus countryside, killing a number of terrorists and destroying their hideouts, an official source told [a] Sana reporter .

The source added that terrorists were killed and injured in Daraya city and Mouadamiyeh town, asserting that their weapons and ammunition were also destroyed.

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My colleague Ian Sample, has been speaking to chemical weapons experts who say the videos appear to show signs of poisoning but doubt whether there will be an opportunity to independently verify what happened and also questioned the timing of the alleged attacks.

One chemical weapons inspector who is not in Syria told the Guardian:

I very much doubt the team will be given access to the site. The whole inspection has been delayed for weeks and months already over the formalities of visiting each site.

“That could change if the pressure becomes so huge for the Syrian government that they have to let them in, but if an attack has happened as appears that would be a PR catastrophe. With an incident of this size, the team will try to talk to the Syrians. If the government thinks this hasn’t happened, the inspectors can say they should want proof, so why not give them access.”

Unconfirmed videos of the aftermath of the attack show dead children and adults, and others with a range of symptoms, including constricted pupils, difficulty breathing, foaming at the mouth, and shaking or fits. These are consistent with a sarin attack, but are not enough to confirm that a nerve agent was responsible. 

Ralph Trapp, an expert on chemical and biological weapons, said:

It is possible a gas was involved, but the images I’ve seen were not clear enough to see other symptoms beyond difficulty in breathing and suffocation. It certainly looks like some sort of poisoning.

Many symptoms can be caused by other substances, and chemical weapons inspectors will need to rule these out. Missiles can strike chemical stores, realising poisonous gases like chlorine, which is used to sterilise water. Shells that carry sarin can also carry fuel-air explosives, which can cause people to suffocate. The munition produces a huge cloud of fuel that is ignited to produce a blast and suck huge amounts of oxygen out of the air. 

Though the videos are almost impossible to verify, Trapp said the footage shows what a chemical weapons attack on a civilian area would look like.

This is one of the first videos I’ve seen from Syria where the numbers start to make sense. If you have a gas attack you would expect large numbers of people, children and adults, to be affected, particularly if it’s in a built up area.

The UN inspectors have a short window of opportunity to gather concrete evidence from Ghouta. Trapp said:

The logical thing to do would be to go in and start interviewing doctors and getting blood and urine samples. This is the ideal moment to collect samples because it is so shortly after the attack. They may get intact agent - in first day or so you would still find intact sarin, for example. Within a few days you would find degradation products. If you link those to clinical examinations and testimony, you can build up very precise picture of what happened.

If chemical weapons were used, the timing of the attack is perplexing, the inspector said.

Does it make military or political sense to do this at this point? I have doubts, I don’t see it. Even if they’re showing that they can do this attack even with UN inspectors near by, it’s not worth it in my opinion.

It is worth noting that in June, Le Monde published a report from its correspondents in Jobar, one of the areas allegedly targeted in last night's attacks, in which they described witnessing multiple chemical weapons attacks against the rebels. 

If today's attack is confirmed as one using chemical weapons, even lower estimates of the number of deaths, would make it the worst chemical weapons attack since Saddam Hussein massacred 5,000 people in the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988.

The upper estimate of the death toll from the attacks on the Damascus suburbs now stands at almost 1,200. Leena al-Shami, from a Damascus-based opposition group, claims the total killed has reached 1,188, excluding Mouadamiyeh in western Ghouta. The Guardian has no way of independently verifying the death toll.

I spoke via Skype to Tariq, an opposition activist, who said he is at a field hospital in al-Nashabia, in eastern Ghouta.

He said:

The hospital is in a bad situation. We lack a lot of equipment which can help us to help the civilians. We have a shortage of facilities, of specialists, doctors who can treat these civilians. We're lacking lots of medicines. The doctors they use their highest powers to save the lives of civilians.

Most of the victims are suffocating, hearts are stopping, [they have] dilation of the eyes, difficulty breathing, trembling of the muscles, delirium. Most of them are paralysed, they can't move. Unfortunately, most of them are children and women - small children are dying. 

The Arab League secretary general, Nabil Elaraby, has added his voice to those calling for UN inspectors to investigate the alleged attack. From Reuters:

"The secretary general said in a statement he was surprised this deplorable crime would happen during the visit of a team of international investigators with the United Nations who are already tasked with investigating chemical weapons use," the official news agency Mena said. 

"He called on the inspectors to head immediately to the eastern Ghouta to determine what happened."

The head of the United Nations chemical weapons inspectors in Syria has said that the alleged attack(s) in Damascus suburbs should be investigated. From Reuters:

Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom told news agency TT that while he had only seen TV footage, the high number of casualties reported sounded suspicious.

"It sounds like something that should be looked into," he told TT by phone from Damascus. "It will depend on whether any UN member state goes to the secretary general and says we should look at this event. We are in place."

Chemical weapons expert Jean Pascal Zanders writes on The Trench that he has been sceptical about previous claims of their use in Syria but in the latest case "it is clear that something terrible has happened":

The footage from the current alleged attack(s) in the Ghouta district seems to offer more convincing evidence of poisoning through asphyxiation (witness the pinkish-bluish hue on the faces of some of the fatalities). Further elements that seem to confirm exposure to toxicants are the unfocussed and rolling eyes, severe breathing difficulties, in one instance a very erect penis, and possible signs of urination or defecation on trousers (although this is difficult to say, given that the hospital floor is covered with water as staff seems to hose water over every victim). None of the victims appeared to have external wounds from blast, shrapnel or bullets.

I am not sure whether the claims of nerve agent use accompanying the footage and images are correct. The people are not convulsing (except for one man shaking his legs while shouting out, but the remainder of his body does not suffer from involuntary contractions) and I have not seen anybody applying nerve agent antidotes. Nor do medical staff and other people appear to suffer from secondary exposure while carrying or treating victims.

It is clear that something terrible has happened. The scenes could not have been stage managed. However, it is extremely puzzling that government forces would launch a chemical attack precisely at the moment when UN inspectors are finally in the country to investigate some of the earlier allegations. 

There are a lot of videos showing victims of the alleged chemical weapons attacks in Damascus suburbs but we have not embedded them here due to the graphic content, although there are links to some in an earlier post.

If you are interested in viewing the videos for yourself, reddit, on its Syrian civil war page, has links to a number of videos and photos. 

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that western Ghouta was also targeted by regime forces today. 

It says:

In the Western Ghouta the airforce was used to bombard parts of Mouadamiyeh city and its surrounding area, which is also under bombardment by multiple rocket launchers; this is considered the heaviest bombardment inflicted on the city since the beginning of the regime attack and attempt to regain control over it. Activists in Mouadamiyeh have also accused the regime of using poisonous gasses in their bombing of Mouadamiyeh.

This video, posted by a local activist group, purports to show the aftermath of an airstrike in Mouadamiyeh.

Turkey, a staunch opponent of the Assad regime, has joined the UK in calling for the UN team currently in Syria to probe the latest allegations of chemical weapons use in Syria. In a statement, the Turkish foreign ministry said: 

We observe with deep concern that a great number of civilians lost their lives as a result of the attacks perpetrated through use of chemical weapons by the regime forces in the East Ghouta and Western Ghouta zones of Damascus, Syria last night .

These allegations must be clarified immediately. The mission of investigation by the UN experts in Syria, established to investigate the accuracy of the allegations concerning the use of chemical weapons in Syria and still continuing to work in this country, must investigate the allegations in question and present its findings as well.

If the allegations are true, it is inevitable that the international community should take the required stand and react against this unacceptable atrocity which constitutes a crime against humanity.

Blogger Brown Moses has a useful round up of previous items on chemicals weapons use that he has posted on his website. 

The UK foreign secretary, William Hague, has expressed his concern at the reports of a chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburbs, and called for the UN chemical weapons team, currently in Syria, to be given immediate access to the area. He said:

I am deeply concerned by reports that hundreds of people, including children, have been killed in airstrikes and a chemical weapons attack on rebel-held areas near Damascus. These reports are uncorroborated and we are urgently seeking more information. But it is clear that if they are verified, it would mark a shocking escalation in the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Those who order the use of chemical weapons, and those who use them, should be in no doubt that we will work in every way we can to hold them to account. I call on the Syrian government to allow immediate access to the area for the UN team currently investigating previous allegations of chemical weapons use. The UK will be raising this incident at the UN security council.

The Syrian Revolution General Commission (SRGC), which says over 200 people were killed, sent through this account of the alleged chemical weapons attack. Although a number of videos and photographs purporting to be of victims have been posted online, we cannot independently verify the details provided by the SRGC, including the claim that the regime fired rockets with chemical weapons heads. 

At around 3am in the morning, regime's forces fired rockets with chemical heads on Zamallaka and on the al-Zainia area in Ein Turma. Jobar district was slightly affected as the gases were driven to it by the wind. A big number of civilians were consequently subjected to the gases, leading to the martyrdom of tens of them. 

Note that the death toll is very hard to report right now as there are up to 80 civilians in a critical condition at a medical point in Irbeen solely, not mention all the other areas to which the patients subjected to the chemical weapons were taken to. [Note: patients were taken to several areas for treatment including Irbeen, Saqba, and Douma]. 

Symptoms of the patients include nausea, hallucinations, suffocation, hard coughing, high blood pressure, seizures etc. There is still no clue of the chemical weapon/toxic gas that was used by the regime's forces to target the innocent civilians.

Families are fleeing the targeted areas to Saqba and several other nearby areas. Activists also report the lack of Atropine that is usually used to treat civilians during chemical attacks by the regime; oxygen tanks are not available too. Medics are only using vinegar to the mouth and nose and are washing the bodies of the victims by water.

Eastern Ghouta, in the Damascus suburbs, where the chemical weapons attack allegedly took place, has long been a battleground in Syria's bloody conflict. It has obvious strategic value for rebels seeking to land their ultimate goal - the capital itself. 

Some of Syria's fiercest and best organised rebel groups, including the jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra, have held enclaves in the area. As such it has also been a target for government forces, fighting to protect the heart of the Assad regime.

In April of this year, the Syrian military said that it had laid siege to rebels in Eastern Ghouta. 

Activists have accused government forces of preventing food and other essential needs entering the central areas of the eastern Ghouta which they say are still controlled by the rebels. 

In the north, the army took control of the flashpoint village of Aziza, following several days of fierce bombardment, it said.

My colleague Shiv Malik has been watching some of the many videos posted online purporting to show the victims of the alleged attack. Please note that all the links below are to footage that is VERY GRAPHIC so exercise caution before opening. Shiv writes: 

Having currently viewed around two dozen videos and photos including two videos purporting to have been shot live on bambuser, what is pretty clear is that those in the triage and first aid rooms believed that they were dealing with a chemical or toxic attack.

Those attending have stripped the injured down - seemingly in an effort to remove traces of any possible toxics from clothes. None of the injured or dead appear to have any visible injures. Many if not all of the injured are struggling to breathe or suffering from respiratory problems.

Some footage shows people wearing oxygen masks and others show scenes of people's hearts and chests being massaged or being hosed and washed. In a few cases people including children are filmed foaming at the mouth whilst those attending give mouth to mouth. 

In another video – most all of which are very graphic and involve shots of children – a man is seen having a fit. 

Indication from social media, both from reports and the time when pictures and footage began emerging from the scene in east Damascus - suggest that the attack took place at around 4am.

Whatever the cause, the death toll from this incident looks like it is in the dozens and scores. 

Welcome to Middle East Live.

Here is a roundup of the latest news:

Syria

Opposition activists have accused forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad of using chemical weapons in the Damascus suburbs. The attacks allegedly took place in towns in the eastern Ghouta. Accounts of the death toll vary wildly. The British based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights put the number killed at "dozens". Others put the figure much higher. The Local Coordination Committees said "hundreds" were killed, the majority of them civilians. The Syrian Revolution General Commission said at least 200 have died, while a Damascus based activist said more than 500 have been killed.

Graphic videos purporting to show the victims of the attack have been posted online. They show chaotic scenes of people, including children, having seizures, being treated and dead bodies lined up (WARNING: graphic).

Reports of the attack come as a United Nations team of chemical weapons experts is visiting Damascus. The team only has a mandate to visit specific sites, as agreed with the Syrian government, where previous chemical weapons attacks are alleged to have taken place. Syrian authorities and rebels have accused each other of using chemical agents in the course of the civil war, in which 100,000 people have been killed.

The Syrian regime has denied using chemical weapons, state media reports. Citing a media source, the Sana news agency reported: 

The source stressed that the reports circulated by the TV channels of al-Jazeera, al-Arabiya and Sky News among other channels which are involved in the shedding of the Syrians' blood and supporting terrorism are completely baseless.

The source said the aim behind broadcasting such reports and news is to attempt to divert the UN chemical weapons investigation commission away from carrying out its duties.

Egypt

 Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak could be freed from jail after a court reviews his case today, potentially stirring further unrest. The court will convene at the Cairo prison where Mubarak is being held, judicial sources said, and review a petition from his lawyer demanding that the leader overthrown during the 2011 uprisings that swept the Arab world be freed. If the court upholds the petition, there would remain no legal grounds for Mubarak's continued detention, though he is being retried on charges of complicity in the killing of protesters in 2011.

 Egyptian authorities have arrested two more Islamist figures: a top ally of the Muslim Brotherhood as he reportedly tried to flee to neighboring Libya disguised as a woman, and a spokesman for the Islamist group on his way to catch a flight out of the country. The arrests are the latest in a crackdown by Egypt's new military-backed leaders against the Muslim Brotherhood group, from which ousted President Mohamed Morsi hails. Safwat Hegazy, a fiery Salafi preacher and top Brotherhood ally, was captured at a checkpoint near the Siwa Oasis in eastern Egypt and close to the border with Libya, according to the state-run Mena news agency. The cleric is wanted on charges of instigating violence. Also, an Egyptian security official said Mourad Ali, a spokesman for the Brotherhood's political party, was detained at the Cairo airport, trying to catch a flight to Italy. 

 The US government is considering whether to suspend a delivery of Apache helicopters to Egypt, the White House said on Tuesday, with President Obama under increasing pressure over his response to the crisis in Cairo. At a news briefing, the White House deputy press secretary Josh Earnest said the government was evaluating the delivery of "tranches" of aid to Egypt on a "case-by-case basis", but said it was inaccurate to say that aid had been stopped.

The deputy secretary-general of the Muslim Brotherhood bloc in parliament has vowed that the Muslim Brotherhood will not resort to violence to solve the country's political crisis. Writing for Comment is Free, Muhammad Al-Baltaji said: 

The Muslim Brotherhood is committed to peaceful protests and has pledged never to resort to violence in response to the violence perpetrated against it by the coup authorities. We believe that our peacefulness is a more powerful weapon than all the killing machines employed by the army or the police.

The interim government has accused the Brotherhood of instigating the violence that has engulfed the country. Amnesty International says supporters of Morsi have carried out sectarian attacks on Coptic Christians.