More than 100 people had breathing problems after the "poisonous gas" attack in Aleppo, state media in Syria reported today, which blamed the rebels for the attack.
Citing hospital sources, the Sana agency reported that 107 cases of suffocation were reported in the night between Saturday and Sunday.
The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were 94 cases of suffocation.
Agence France-Presse reported last night that several dozen civilians who had breathing problems were transferred to the hospital in Aleppo.
Police in Aleppo said rebel groups fired poison gas rockets at residential areas of the city late last night.
Aleppo, the metropolis in the north of Syria, has been under the complete control of the Syrian authorities since the end of 2016, but in parts of the periphery there are still rebel and jihadist groups, which control the neighboring province of Idlib.
"According to the preliminary results, based on the symptoms that the citizens had, the bullets used in the shelling were filled with chlorine," said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.
According to the data of the Russian army, there are also children among the hospitalized persons. All the injured have breathing problems and watery eyes. According to the first estimates of the Russian army, the attack was carried out from the area under the control of the former Al-Nusra Front.
"The Syrian army responded to the shelling by attacking the positions of the militants who suffered significant losses," a Syrian military source told Sputnik.
Russia: Rebels used chlorine weapons
The Russian Ministry of Defense today accused Syrian rebels of using chlorine weapons in an attack in Aleppo, a city controlled by the Syrian authorities.
"Terrorist groups" located in the buffer zone in Idlib, under the control of the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, fired rockets with a substance that appeared to be choir, said the unnamed spokesman of the Russian ministry, referring to Russian military sources on the ground in Syria.
It is added that chemical experts of the Russian army went to Aleppo to assess the situation and help the victims of the attack.
Western countries have on several occasions accused the authorities in Damascus of using chemical weapons to attack civilians, and these accusations have always been rejected by the Syrian and Russian authorities, who are allies of Damascus.
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