Over 100 hospitalized after 'gas attack' in Aleppo

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More than 100 people were hospitalized in Syria's Aleppo on Saturday in a suspected toxic gas attack which the government and its ally Russia blamed on insurgents.

State news agency SANA said on Sunday 107 people were affected, including children, after militants hit three districts with projectiles containing gases that caused choking.

A health official in Aleppo said victims suffered breathing difficulties, eye inflammation and other symptoms suggesting the use of chlorine gas.

Rebels denied the allegations and said their forces did not possess chemical weapons.

A Syrian girl receives treatment at a hospital in Aleppo, November 24, 2018. /VCG Photo

Russia's defense ministry said on Sunday its warplanes bombed militants in the insurgent stronghold of Idlib who it accused of firing poison gas at Aleppo.

A monitoring group said air strikes hit rebel territory in northwest Syria on Sunday for the first time since Russia and Turkey agreed on a buffer zone there in September.

Meanwhile, Turkey's defense minister and his Russian counterpart spoke on the phone about the "latest provocations" in the Idlib region, Ankara reported, without providing more details.

A Syrian boy receives treatment at a hospital in Aleppo, November 24, 2018. /VCG Photo

Zaher Batal, head of the Aleppo Doctors Syndicate, said the kinds of gases are not known but chlorine is suspected, and patients were treated on this basis.

It marks the highest such casualty toll in Aleppo since government forces and their allies took back the city from rebels nearly two years ago.

Nobody has claimed the Aleppo attack so far.

(Cover: A woman breathes through an oxygen mask after a suspected toxic gas attack in Aleppo, November 24, 2018. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters