Syrian govt slams chemical weapons claim

DAMASCUS - The Syrian government on Saturday evening slammed allegations by rebel groups that the army had used chemical gas in the eastern Ghouta town of Douma, east of Damascus.

State media denied government forces had launched any chemical attack as soon as the reports began circulating and said rebels in Douma were in a state of collapse and spreading false news.

The United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 11 people had died in Douma as a result of suffocation caused by the smoke from conventional weapons being dropped by the government. It said a total of 70 people suffered breathing difficulties.

Medical relief organization Syrian American Medical Society said a chlorine bomb hit Douma hospital, killing six people, and a second attack with "mixed agents" including nerve agents had hit a nearby building.

Basel Termanini, the US-based vice-president of SAMS, told Reuters the total death toll in the chemical attacks was 35.

However, Syrian State news agency SANA said the rebel group in Douma, Jaish al-Islam, was making "chemical attack fabrications in an exposed and failed attempt to obstruct advances by the Syrian Arab army", citing an official source.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Army on Saturday said it stormed the front lines of the Islam Army in the area amid a state of collapse and chaos among the rebel group, according to SANA.

The Islam Army said on its official social network site that its militants foiled the advance of government forces from farmland on the outskirts of Douma.

Local TV stations aired footage of the targeting of Douma, a day after announcing that the Syrian Republican Guard units had started operations.

The escalation of violence comes as the Islam Army backed down on its agreement to leave Douma for rebel-held areas in northern Syria.

Douma was supposed to witness a similar evacuation of militants as had been seen in other areas in eastern Ghouta, where 43,000 rebels and their families withdrew under a deal with the government.

Xinhua - Reuters