DAMASCUS: Syrian government on Tuesday alleged that rebel forces used chemical weapons in an attack in the northern province of Aleppo that left 15 people dead.
“Terrorists fired rockets containing chemical materials on Khan al-Assal in Aleppo province, and preliminary information suggests 15 people were killed, mostly civilians,” the state news agency SANA said on Tuesday.
This is the first time the President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has accused rebel forces of using chemical weapons in the ongoing conflict.
Over the past few months, there has been a constant concern for the international community that Syria’s chemical weapons could fall into the hand of militants.
The United States and the UN have repeatedly warned Syria’s government against deploying its own chemical arms stockpile.
On the other hand, it maintains that it would never use such weapons against its own people, but would consider their deployment if threatened by outside forces.
Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile, which dates back to the 1970s, is the biggest in the Middle East, but its precise scope remains unclear, according to analysts, and the regime has not acknowledged having the arms.
According to experts, the country has hundreds of tons of various chemical agents, including sarin and VX nerve agents, as well as older blistering agents such as mustard gas, dispersed in dozens of manufacturing and storage sites.
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