A
tragic scene of chaos unfolded Tuesday morning in Syria as an estimated 58+
people—children included—were killed by what appears to be another sarin gas
attack. Airstrikes exploded on the rebel city of Khan Sheikhoun in the Idlib
province, releasing a “poisonous gas” according to an activist with the Aleppo
Media Center (AMC), Anas al-Diab. Although no party has yet taken
responsibility for the carnage, anti-Assad activists are already blaming the
Syrian regime.
Horror At The Hospital
“I’ve
never seen anything like it,” said Fares al-Jundi, a doctor on the scene at the
hospital, “beyond description.”
Al-Jundi
says an estimated 500 people were brought to the hospital, overburdening the
medical staff.
#Syria: horrible photos are coming out of Khan Shaykhun (#Idlib) where the regime has committed a major chemical attack on civilians pic.twitter.com/qcY25Dvoal— Thomas van Linge (@arabthomness) April 4, 2017
“I
believe this horrible memory will stay with me for the rest of my life,” said
al-Jundi.
According
to another doctor, whose identity has been kept anonymous for security reasons:
Today
around 7:30 a.m., about 125 injuries arrived to our hospital. Twenty-five of
them were already dead, 70 to 80% of the wounded people were kids and women.
The
symptoms were pale skin, sweating, narrow or pin-eye pupils, very intense
respiratory detachments. Those symptoms match the usage of sarin.
I'm receiving horrific photos purportedly of a chemical attack in the #Idlib town of #KhanSheikhan we told children among dead #Syria pic.twitter.com/TgVUJhMPxu— Sophie McNeill (@Sophiemcneill) April 4, 2017
The
estimated death toll numbers are conflicting at the moment, with the AMC tallying
it at 70, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights counts 58. A separate
source, the High Negotiations Committee, reported the death numbers as high as
100.
Later
on in the day, a separate airstrike landed near a hospital in Khan Sheikhoun
where some victims were being treated, injuring several more people.
The
Idlib province has been controlled primarily by Syrian rebels and is a focal
point for attacks by the government of Syria and,
reportedly,
it’s “ally Russia.”
According
to CNN, “In an apparent reference to the attack, two state-run Syrian media
outlets reported that there was an explosion at a “rebel poison gas factory” in
the countryside of Idlib province. The government has denied using chemical
weapons in the past.”
Back
in the United States, Senator John McCain—a long time critic of Bashar
al-Assad—sounded off, saying:
“We’ve
seen this movie before, it was when Barack Obama said they would have a red
line, they crossed it and he did nothing. Bashar al-Assad and his friends, the
Russians, take note of what Americans say.”