Wednesday, Aug 21, 2013
By Sam Dagher
DAMASCUS, Syria--Syrian opposition rebels accused government forces here of killing hundreds of people in the capital's suburbs in an alleged poison gas attack on Wednesday. Syrian authorities vehemently denied those accusations, while acknowledging they were conducting military operations in several areas around Damascus.
The dramatic rebel charges come three days after a team of United Nations inspectors arrived in the Syrian capital to begin investigation of prior allegations by both rebels and the government of chemical weapons use, including toxic nerve agents in the ongoing war.
The government of President Bashar al-Assad welcomed the U.N. team and promised full cooperation, with one official telling the Wall Street Journal earlier this week that inspectors would be allowed to travel to Khan al-Assal in northern Syria. Both sides accused each other in March of using chemical weapons there, but the town fell in rebel hands last month after an offensive in which dozens of surrendering soldiers were executed.
"There is absolutely no truth to reports about the use of chemical weapons in the Ghouta," said an unnamed Syrian Ministry of Information official quoted by Syrian state media using the local term for the capital's suburbs.
He accused media outlets Al-Jazeera and Al-Aribiya, which are owned by Syrian government opponents Qatar and Saudi Arabia respectively, of trying to influence the U.N. team during its visit.
"What is being broadcast by the channels that are complicit in the shedding of Syrian blood is false and an attempt to derail the chemical weapons investigation committee and prevent it from carrying out its mission," he said.
The Local Coordination Committees--a network of opposition activists operating throughout Syria--said in a statement at least 668 people were killed in "shelling with poison gases" on the towns of Ain Tarma and Zamalka in the capital's eastern suburbs and the town of Moadamiyah in the western suburbs.
"The international community must bear its responsibility toward the massacre," the Syrian Opposition Coalition's leader Ahmed al-Jarba was quoted as saying by Al-Arabiya.
An activist identified by the same channel as Aram al-Doumani--whom it said was speaking to it via Skype from the rebel-controlled town of Douma in the eastern suburbs--put the death toll at more than 800. He claimed the regime fired several ballistic missiles equipped with warheads bearing what he said was the toxic nerve agent sarin against rebel areas starting in the early hours of Wednesday.
"Steps only separate the international committee investigating chemical weapons from the areas that were pummeled overnight by the same weapon," Mr. Doumani said. "Where is the world?"
The channel broadcast video clips purportedly filmed by rebels and activists, showing rows of children lined up on the floor of what appeared to be a field hospital, and said they were allegedly killed in these attacks. No wounds or cuts were visible.
Neither the rebel claims nor the authenticity of the video clips released by the opposition could be independently verified.
The areas that were allegedly hit by chemical weapons have been the scene of fierce battles between rebels and government forces for months. They are mostly inaccessible to journalists and are besieged by Syrian military and security forces.
A series of loud explosions reverberated across the capital starting at 3 a.m. local time. Since then, the sound of government rocket launchers and artillery hitting rebel areas could be heard intermittently.
"Units of our heroic army have destroyed terror hideouts and gatherings in a number of villages and towns in the Damascus suburbs killing and wounding several terrorists," said a security official quoted by state media later on Wednesday, using the term often used by the regime to describe rebels.
Write to Sam Dagher at sam.dagher@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
21-08-13 1037GMT
