Forces fighting for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad attacked a civilian area near Damascus using chlorine gas early Saturday (Jan. 13) morning.
It’s not the first time.
Assad forces used chemical weapons to attack rebels back in November 2017 during a campaign to retake the area around Mazra’at Beit Jinn, near Mount Hermon.
At the time, Assad forces threw explosive drums containing what was believed to have been chlorine gas on the hill, according to the The Jerusalem Post, quoting Abo Omar al Golany, spokesperson for the Revolutionary Command Council in Quneitra and the Golan. The rebel forces in those areas have since evacuated, due to the takeover of the region by the conquering regime army. Three Syrian casualties at the time were treated in Israel for injuries sustained during the attack.
The area struck on Saturday by the chemical weapons is controlled by rebel forces, according to the report posted by Rotter.net, quoting a tweet from a local source.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>important statement from <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Douma?src="https://www.jewishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/Jewish-Press-Small-Logo-Rectangle.jpg?v=1.0.5" style="display: none;"hash&ref_src="https://www.jewishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/Jewish-Press-Small-Logo-Rectangle.jpg?v=1.0.5" style="display: none;"twsrc%5Etfw”>#Douma</a> Local Council 13/1/2018<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/syria?src="https://www.jewishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/Jewish-Press-Small-Logo-Rectangle.jpg?v=1.0.5" style="display: none;"hash&ref_src="https://www.jewishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/Jewish-Press-Small-Logo-Rectangle.jpg?v=1.0.5" style="display: none;"twsrc%5Etfw”>#syria</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Damascus?src="https://www.jewishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/Jewish-Press-Small-Logo-Rectangle.jpg?v=1.0.5" style="display: none;"hash&ref_src="https://www.jewishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/Jewish-Press-Small-Logo-Rectangle.jpg?v=1.0.5" style="display: none;"twsrc%5Etfw”>#Damascus</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/chemical_attacks?src="https://www.jewishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/Jewish-Press-Small-Logo-Rectangle.jpg?v=1.0.5" style="display: none;"hash&ref_src="https://www.jewishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/Jewish-Press-Small-Logo-Rectangle.jpg?v=1.0.5" style="display: none;"twsrc%5Etfw”>#chemical_attacks</a> <a href=”https://t.co/xlGKGH5khQ”>pic.twitter.com/xlGKGH5khQ</a></p>— ahmad mohamad (@ahmad09904) <a href=”https://twitter.com/ahmad09904/status/952147378949238784?ref_src="https://www.jewishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/Jewish-Press-Small-Logo-Rectangle.jpg?v=1.0.5" style="display: none;"twsrc%5Etfw”>January 13, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Other reports in Arab media this weekend likewise confirmed the use of chlorine gas by the Assad regime forces targeting rebels east of Damascus, specifically around Harsta and Douma. According to these same reports, the Syrian government forces fired eight chlorine gas missiles at the civilian-populated areas controlled by the rebels.