(Zaman Al Wasl)- One year has passed since regime forces targeted Douma, the capital of Eastern Ghouta suburbs, with chemical gas that left dozens killed and wounded.
The victims were in shelters and underground basements to escape the heavy shelling on the city during the regime’s deadliest offensive on the eastern enclave of Damascus last April.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) has documented the deaths of 41 civilians, including 12 children and 15 women, with around 550 wounded in the chemical attack on the city.
Mukhtar al-Domani, a survivor of the chemical massacre, described the incident to Zaman al-Wasl saying, "On Saturday, April 7, after a bombing campaign that lasted for several days, two helicopters flew over the city of Douma and threw barrels of toxic gases on the residential buildings in the city centre.”
Adding that, "The regime chose a specific timing for the bombing, as it deliberately took advantage of the weather that contributed to the widespread of gas all over Douma. At 8:45 pm, the helicopters threw two barrels of sarin and chlorine gas over Al Quasarna district, which coincided with increased bombing raids all over the city.”
According to the al-Domani this resulted in the spread of a strange and foul smell across the city, while ambulance teams rushed to the scene to transport the injured who were fainting and foaming at the mouth, especially children, women and the elderly who died of suffocation.
The fall of Eastern Ghouta last April was achieved in a brutal fashion and had changed the course of the war.
More than 1,700 civilians were reportedly killed in the eight-week offensive.
The Eastern Ghouta was the scene of the first major protests in the capital against the rule of Bashar al-Assad.
Khaled al-Homsi, another witness to the incident, said: "I was forced to stay with my family and some of my relatives in a shelter near the medical center in the Abdul-Rauf neighborhood. Then a strange smell started to seep into the area and we knew that it was poisonous gases, so we immediately hid inside the medical center. It was hysterical and frightful sight when we arrived, some people were dead, others were lying on the floor struggling to survive. Especially the children who were vomiting and suffering of convulsions and muscle cramps, with red eyes and foaming mouths.”
He added that the chemical gas caused a severe chest pain and difficulty in breathing. Because of the siege imposed on the area, doctors and nurses at the medical center were unable to provide any treatment, other than spraying the injured with cold water and giving them injection for anti-suffocation and for the expansion of air passages to save them from death.” al-Homsi also noted that he lost many of his family and relatives that day.
The fact-finding mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has confirmed, in a report released a month ago, the use of molecular chlorine during the attack on the city of Douma on 7 April 2018, based on medical and environmental samples obtained by the Mission during its inspection of the target area.
Zaman Al Wasl
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