State news agency SANA said on Sunday 107 people were injured in Aleppo after
militants hit three districts with projectiles containing gases that caused
choking.
It marks the highest such casualty toll in Aleppo since government forces and
their allies recaptured the city from rebels nearly two years ago.
Moscow, a key Damascus ally, accused insurgents on Sunday of bombarding Aleppo
with shells filled with chlorine gas, poisoning 46 people, including eight
children, Reuters reported.
The Russian defense ministry said the attack was launched from territory that
former al-Qaeda militants control in the rebel stronghold of Idlib.
Russia also said it would talk to Turkey, which backs some rebel factions and
has brokered a ceasefire with Moscow in the Idlib region.
"The explosive (shells) contain toxic gases that led to choking among
civilians,” Aleppo police chief Issam al-Shilli told state media.
"They were taken to al-Razi hospital and Aleppo University Hospital for
treatment as a result of the irritating substance they inhaled.”
Pictures and footage on SANA showed medical workers carrying patients on
stretchers and helping them with oxygen masks.
"We cannot know the kinds of gases but we suspected chlorine and treated
patients on this basis because of the symptoms,” Zaher Batal, the head of the
Aleppo Doctors Syndicate, told Reuters.
Batal said symptoms included difficulty breathing, eye inflammation, shivering
and fainting. Hospitals had discharged many patients.
Batal called it the first such gas attack in Aleppo city in the conflict, which
has raged for more than seven years.