On Thursday, the Syrian Support Group (SSG), a U.S.-based advocacy organization that has pressed Obama to provide the Syrian opposition with advanced weapons, issued a report that said two chemical weapons attacks were conducted on April 25 in the southern part of Daraya, a suburb of Damascus. One doctor working from the Daraya medical center said 75 victims were treated for symptoms including “muscle spasms, bronchial spasms, headaches, dizziness, vomiting, and miosis” following a 1 a.m. rocket strike. Another 25 victims were sent to the medical center complaining of similar symptoms when a second attack hit the area at 7 a.m. local time, according to the SSG and a statement from the local coordinating council of Dariya, a media group affiliated with the Syrian opposition.
The Daily Beast was unable to confirm the report. But the allegation comes after the White House acknowledged today that the U.S. intelligence community had “varying degrees of confidence” that sarin gas was used on a small scale in attacks in Syria. U.S. defense and intelligence officials say the alleged attacks included attacks on March 19 in Damascus and Aleppo.
The SSG, one of the first to report on the March 19 attacks, said victims of Thursday’s chemical strike exhibited symptoms similar to those from the March 19 attacks, in which rebel groups claimed the regime used weapons armed with echothiophate—an organophosphate similar to sarin.
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