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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22549861
BBC News Middle East
16 May 2013 Last updated at 12:25 GMT
Syria conflict: BBC shown 'signs of chemical attack'
The BBC has been shown evidence apparently corroborating reports of a chemical
attack in Syria last month.
A BBC correspondent who visited the northern town of Saraqeb was told by
eyewitnesses that government helicopters had dropped at least two devices
containing poisonous gas.
The government has vehemently denied claims it has used chemical agents.
The US has warned that such a development would be a "red line" for possible
intervention.
However, President Barack Obama has said the current intelligence on possible
chemical weapon usage did not constitute sufficient proof.
'Suffocating smell'
On 29 April, Saraqeb, a town south-west of Aleppo, came under artillery
bombardment from government positions.
Doctors at the local hospital told the BBC's Ian Pannell they had admitted
eight people suffering from breathing problems. Some were vomiting and others
had constricted pupils, they said. One woman, Maryam Khatib, later died.
A number of videos passed to the BBC appear to support these claims, but it is
impossible to independently verify them. Mrs Khatib's son Mohammed had rushed
to the scene to help his mother and was also injured in the attack.
"It was a horrible, suffocating smell. You couldn't breathe at all. You'd feel
like you were dead. You couldn't even see. I couldn't see anything for three or
four days," Mr Khatib told the BBC.
A doctor who treated Mrs Khatib said her symptoms corresponded to
organophosphate poisoning and that samples had been sent for testing.
One device was said to have landed on the outskirts of Saraqeb, with
eyewitnesses describing a box-like container, with a hollow concrete casing
inside.
In another video, a rebel fighter holds a canister said to be hidden inside the
devices. Witnesses claim there were two in each container.
Another video shows parts of a canister on the ground, surrounded by white
powder.
The BBC has been told that samples from the scene and from the alleged victims
have been sent to Britain, France, Turkey and America for testing.
Competing claims
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former commanding officer at the UK's Joint
Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear Regiment, said the testimony and
evidence from Saraqeb was "strong, albeit incomplete".
In Saraqeb and in three similar events in Syria in recent weeks, "people have
got ill and died and their symptoms are what we would expect to see from a
nerve type of agent, be it sarin or be it organophosphate," Mr de
Bretton-Gordon said.
On the available evidence, recent attacks in Al-Otaybeh to the east of
Damascus, in Adra near the town of Douma, and in the Sheikh Maqsoud district of
Aleppo appear "virtually identical" to what happened in Saraqeb, according to
Mr de Bretton-Gordon.
Mr de Bretton-Gordon has not visited the site or tested any of the alleged
evidence but was given full access to the material gathered by the BBC.
Both the US and UK have spoken of growing evidence that the Syrian government
has used chemical weapons.
Rebel fighters have also been accused of using them. They also have denied this.
In March, Syria's government and opposition called for an inquiry into an
alleged chemical weapon attack in Khan al-Assal in the north of Syria which
killed at least 27 people, with both sides blaming each other.
A 15-strong UN team headed by a Swedish scientist, Ake Sellstrom, has been
assembled to investigate the claims.
However, the Syrian government has refused the team access. Syrian officials
have been quoted as saying they want the team to look into the incident in Khan
al-Assal, but the team has requested unconditional access with the right to
inquire into all credible allegations.
The UN says estimates that the two-year-old conflict has left at least 80,000
people dead.
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BBC
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