Reports that a chemical weapon attack killed hundreds early Wednesday morning have surfaced among Syrian antigovernment activists in Damascus.
The Syrian government refuted accusations, arguing that activists are trying to blame a chemical weapon attack on President Bashar al-Assad’s administration to distract the public from the climbing number of rebel losses, BBC News reports.
Photographs and videos have surfaced of victims uncontrollably shaking, foaming at the mouth, vomiting and others staring motionlessly. However many deny the validity of these videos, mentioning the cavalier nature doctors in the video handle their patients. Skeptics also point out the ill-timing of such an attack as inspectors are currently analyzing sites of purported chemical weapon attacks in the area.
It is unclear at the moment whether the United Nations Security Council will investigate the reported attack further. The US, UK and France have all called for further scrutiny.
The New York Times quotes George Sabra, president of the main opposition group in Syria, at a television conference, “American resistance is killing us. The silence of our friends is killing us. The betrayal of the international community is killing us [...] The hypocrisy of the world that we considered free is killing us and killing us and killing us.”
William Hague, British Foreign Secretary, remarked that if allegations proved true, it “would mark a shocking escalation in the use of chemical weapons in Syria.”