Opposition claims regime targets Daraya with poison gas

CHEMICAL ATTACK? This video posted to YouTube Monday night shows the aftermath of what opposition sources claim was a poison gas attack on the Syrian town of Daraya, 8km west of Damascus. The pro-opposition Syrian Media Center stated that three opposition fighters were killed and 10 injured as a result of respiratory problems and asphyxiation following the attack.

“Dozens have been injured by poison gasses,” narrates the videographer from Daraya’s Local Council, panning over a frenetic scene as victims receive treatment in a neighborhood field clinic. It was not immediately clear which gasses may have been used.

The town has faced a fierce regime campaign since Saturday, having been shelled with dozens of “barrel bombs” and now, reportedly, poison gas.

The pro-regime al-Watan newspaper, for its part, cited residents as saying that the explosions were the sounds of regime forces destroying insurgents’ tunnels.

The Local Council added on its Facebook page that the shelling targeted the “historic Abu Suleiman al-Darani mosque in Daraya, causing the mosque’s dome to collapse.”

Regime forces have besieged Daraya continuously over a year, witnessing heavy clashes and intense shelling that have caused widespread displacement and destroyed the majority of residential buildings.

Video courtesy of Ugarit News.

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