A Syrian human-rights group claims over 1000 deaths from an artillery attack on suburban Damascus from Bashar al-Assad’s army, and claims that poison gas was part of the attack. France has called for a UN investigation, while the Syrian government denies using any such weapons:
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France’s president demanded the United Nations be granted access to the site of Wednesday’s alleged attack, while Britain’s foreign secretary said if the claims are verified it would mark “a shocking escalation of the use of chemical weapons in Syria.”
The heavy shelling early Wednesday pounded the capital’s eastern suburbs of Zamalka, Arbeen and Ein Tarma, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group. The intensive bombardment as well as the sound of fighter jets could be heard by residents of the Syrian capital throughout the night and early Wednesday, and gray smoke hung over towns in the eastern suburbs.
Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman said the activists in the area said “poisonous gas” was fired in rockets as well as from the air in the attack. He added that he has documented at least 100 deaths, but said it was no clear whether the victims died from shelling or toxic gas.
CBS has more, with the claims rising to 1,000 or more:
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