The world press today reported the chemical attack on Douma in Eastern Ghouta by the Assad regime, an attack that caused death for more than 80 civilians and more than 1000 injuries.
Syrian activists, rescuers and medics said entire families died while hiding in cellars, trying to seek shelter from air raids and barrel bombs. The massacre happened after the regime hit a shelter in Douma with a barrel bomb containing a chemical agent.
The wall street journal mentioned that the attack on Douma was initially suspected to be a chlorine gas attack, but symptoms of the victims and those who were treated indicate the use of a nerve agent as well, according to the Syrian American Medical Society.
Many of the victims smelled of chlorine and more than 500 have been treated for shortness of breath, according to a joint statement by the White Helmets, a Syrian paramedic group that is active in opposition-controlled areas, and the Syrian medical group.
The Daily mail posted a video shows medical workers treating children for a chemical attack inhalers in Douma. Others were hosed down with water. Euronews also posted a video that shows medical rescuers trying to treat men, women and children who suffers from suffocation due to the inhalation of poisonous gas. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 80 people killed in the attack.
US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert, said. "These reports, if confirmed, are horrifying and demand an immediate response by the international community." The US State Department added that it was monitoring the situation and that Russia should be blamed if chemicals were used.
SANA, the Syrian regime news agency, rejected the accusations of using chemical weapons in Douma, and cited a Syrian official saying: ''The Syrian army is already progressing in Douma, and doesn't need to use chemical weapons.'' Russian Ministry of Defence also denied the claims that the Syrian regime used chemical weapons on an opposition holdout in Eastern Ghouta. "We firmly deny this information," said General Yuri Yevtushenko, head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Warring Sides in Syria, according to AFP. "We are ready, once Douma is freed from militants, to immediately send Russian specialists in radiation, chemical and biological defence to collect data that will confirm these claims are fabricated," he added.