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Syria's darkest hour: Hundreds of children's

bodies piled high after nerve gas attack nearDamascus leaves up to 1,300 dead

Activists claim 1,300 killed in government rocket strike on residential area

If true, it would represent the worst known use of chemical weapons since

Saddam Hussein gassed thousands of Kurds in the town of Halabja in 1988

Chemical warheads hit suburbs of Ain Tarma, Zamalka and Jobar

They hit just before dawn as families lay sleeping

A UN team is in Syria to probe chemical weapons use by President Assad

Many countries have called for an immediate investigation

French Foreign Minister has called the attack an 'unprecedented atrocity'

William Hague said hopes attack will 'wake up some' who support Assad

Claims come as refugees flood into Iraqi Kurdistan

By Sam Webb

PUBLISHED: 08:11 GMT, 21 August 2013 | UPDATED: 14:25 GMT, 22 August 2013

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The world has looked on in horror as graphic images emerged showing the aftermath of a dawn poison gas

attack in the suburbs of Damascus that wiped out 1,300 people as they lay sleeping in their beds.

Syrian activists accuse President Bashar al-Assad's forces of launching the nerve gas attack in what would be

by far the worst reported use of poison gas in the two-year-old civil war.

Activists said rockets with chemical agents hit the Damascus suburbs of Ain Tarma, Zamalka and Jobar beforedawn.

While these pictures of dead children are graphic, disturbing and undoubtedly the worst so far to have

emerged from the conflict, MailOnline has made the decision to publish them in order to raise awareness of

the plight of innocent people in a war that shows no sign of ending.

Scroll down for video

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Slaughter: Syrian activists inspect the bodies of people they say were killed by nerve gas

in Damascus

The activists said at least 213 people, including women and children, were killedy in a

nerve gas attack by President Bashar al-Assad's forces

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Bodies of people, including children, activists say were killed by nerve gas

Innocent: Dead bodies of Syrian children after an alleged poisonous gas rocket attack

fired by regime forces

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The accounts could not be verified independently and were denied by Syrian state television, which said they

were disseminated deliberately to distract a team of United Nations chemical weapons experts that arrived

three days ago.

Syria's Information Minister called the activists' claim a 'disillusioned and fabricated one whose objective is to

deviate and mislead' the UN mission.

Al Jazeeras Nisreen El-Shamayleh, reporting from neighbouring Jordan, said there were videos allegedly

showing both children and adults in field hospitals, some of them suffocating, coughing and sweating.

'We have been receiving reports that the doctors in the field hospitals do not have the right medication to treat

these cases and that they were treating people with vinegar and water,' she said.

GRAPHIC CONTENT expert says Syria attack shows trauma to nervous...

A young survivor of the alleged gas attack cries as he takes shelter inside a mosque

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A man, affected by what activists say is nerve gas, is treated in the Damascus suburbs of

Jesreen

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A man is treated in hospital for the effects of chemical poisoning after the suspected

Sarin attack

A boy who survived what activists say is a gas attack cries as he takes shelter inside a

mosque in the Duma neighbourhood of Damascus

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An undignified end: This image grab taken from a video uploaded on YouTube allegedly

shows Syrians covering a mass grave containing bodies of victims of the attack. The

atrocity seems all too familiar to the children and young men standing around the grave

site

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A wounded Syrian girl waits for treatment. It has been reported that medical staff lack

vital supplies needed to treat those affected

VIDEO: Nerve gas attack near Damascus kills 213. Graphic content

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White House says investigation of Syria top priority

Meanwhile, fighting in strife-hit country has fuelled a mass exodus of about 35,000 refugees into Iraq and risks

exploding into a full-blown side conflict as Kurdish militias battled against al-Qaida-linked fighters in the

northeast.

SARIN: ONE OF THE MOST DEADLY CHEMICAL AGENTS

Activists say the nerve agent Sarin was used in the alleged chemical weapons attack that killed up to 1,300

people.

Sarin is colourless, tasteless and odourless, unlike mustard gas which smells of rotten onions or garlic.

It is one of the most toxic of the known chemical warfare agents, according to the Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention.

Once a person has breathed in Sarin, death can occur within one to 10 minutes if there is no treatment.

If it is drunk, the victim can survive for up to 18 hours.

A fraction of an ounce of the nerve agent on the skin can be fatal.

Exposure to the gas causes pupils to shrink to pinpoint sizes and foaming at the lips.

Symptoms include paralysis, loss of consciousness and respiratory failure.

Treatment needs to be given straight away and antidotes include Atropine and pralidoxime chloride.

Syria is believed to have one of the largest arsenals in the world of chemical weapons, including Sarin and

mustard gas.

The European Union condemned the suspected use of chemical weapons by Syrian government forces

Wednesday as 'totally unacceptable', demanding an immediate investigation.

EU foreign affairs head Catherine Ashton said charges by Syrias main opposition group that the chemical

attack 'should be immediately and thoroughly investigated.'

A U.N. team is in Syria investigating allegations that both rebels and army forces used poison gas in the past,

one of the main disputes in international diplomacy over Syria.

It 'must be allowed full and unhindered access to all sites,' Ashton said, according to a spokesperson.

'The EU reiterates that any use of chemical weapons, by any side in Syria, would be totally unacceptable,' she

said.

The authorities and all other parties in Syria 'need to provide all necessary support to and cooperation with the

missions operations,' Ashton said as she gathered EU foreign ministers for a meeting on the crisis in Egypt.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, speaking in Brussels, said if proven the use of chemical weapons

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would 'not only be a massacre, but also an unprecedented atrocity'.

Fabius said however that the accusations from the Syrian opposition were 'not yet verified'.

The White House says it's 'deeply concerned' about reports that chemical weapons were used by Syria's

government against civilians.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest says the U.S. strongly condemns any use of chemical weapons and

says the Obama administration is urgently working to gather information. Earnest says the U.S. is asking the

U.N. to investigate and wants a Security Council debate.Syria must allow the UN inspectors immediate access to investigate claims that chemical weapons were used

in the attack, William Hague has demanded.

Many women and children were among the dead. The area reportedly bombed is

residential

As the United Nations Security Council met to discuss reports of a deadly chemical weapon attack, the

Foreign Secretary said that uncorroborated reports of toxic agents being used would mark a 'shocking

escalation' if they are verified and warned that those who use them 'should be in no doubt that we will work in

every way we can to hold them to account'.

Mr Hague said: 'I am deeply concerned by reports that hundreds of people, including children, have been

killed in air strikes and a chemical weapons attack on rebel-held areas near Damascus. '

He added before a meeting with his French counterpart: 'I hope this will wake up some who have supported

the Assad regime to realise its murderous and barbaric nature.'

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The United Nations Security Council, failed to agree on on a firmly worded call on Syria during the two-hour

closed-door meeting, sources said.

Argentina's UN Ambassador Maria Cristina Perceval, the current council president, said afterwards that the

council backed Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's determination for 'a thorough, impartial and prompt

investigation' into the allegations.

Diplomats, who did not want to be named, told the Associated Press that Russia and China blocked a stronger

press statement supported by Britain, France, the United States and others.

The team of UN inspectors was only recently granted access to Syria - and would need permission to extend

its work beyond the sites where chemical weapons were previously alleged to have been used.

Victim: A Syrian girl receiving treatment at a makeshift hospital, in Arbeen, Damascus

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These horrendous pictures were provided by citizen journalists in Syria

'There is no excuse for the Syrian regime not to provide access to the UN team that are in Damascus now to

assess the use of chemical weapons,' Mr Hague said.

Russia, too, has urged an 'objective' investigation but Assad's biggest foreign ally also heaped scepticism on

his enemies' claims.

A foreign ministry spokesman in Moscow said the release of gas after UN inspectors arrived suggested that it

was a rebel 'provocation' to discredit Syria's government.

'These reports are uncorroborated and we are urgently seeking more information. But it is clear that if they are

verified, it would mark a shocking escalation in the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

'Those who order the use of chemical weapons, and those who use them, should be in no doubt that we will

work in every way we can to hold them to account.

'I call on the Syrian government to allow immediate access to the area for the UN team currently investigating

previous allegations of chemical weapons use. The UK will be raising this incident at the UN Security Council.'

Syria's neighbour Turkey said it was clear that chemical weapons had been used.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in an interview broadcast on Turkey's Kanal 24 television: 'Use

of chemical weapons in Syria is evident from the footage coming from there.

Horrific aftermath of chemical gas attack in Damascus

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Grim toll: Fighting in Syria has killed an estimated 100,000 people so far

'We have called for an immediate investigation by the U.N. teams.'

A nurse at Douma Emergency Collection facility, Bayan Baker, said the death toll, as collated from medical

centres in the suburbs east of Damascus, was 213.

'Many of the casualties are women and children. They arrived with their pupil dilated, cold limbs and foam in

their mouths. The doctors say these are typical symptoms of nerve gas victims,' the nurse said.

ALLEGED CHEMICAL WEAPON ATTACKS IN SYRIA'S CIVIL WAR

In July 2012, the Syrian government admitted that Syria had stocks of chemical weapons, but said they

would would never be used 'inside Syria'.

In March this year it was reported that chemical weapons were used by rebels in the town of Khan

al-Assal in northern Syria, killing 16.

On the same day as the attack in Khan al-Assal, the opposition uploaded videos they claimed showed

victims of a bombardment in the village of al-Otaybeh near Damascus.

On March 24 it was reported that two people were killed and 'dozens' injured in Adra by 'chemical

phosphorus bombs'.

On April 29 eyewitnesses said helicopters dropped canisters onto the town of Saraqeb, hospitalisingeight.

Extensive amateur video and photographs purporting to show victims appeared on the Internet. A video

puportedly shot in the Kafr Batna neighbourhood showed a room filled with more than 90 bodies, many of

them children and a few women and elderly men.

Most of the bodies appeared ashen or pale but with no visible injuries. About a dozen were wrapped in

blankets.

Other footage showed doctors treating people in makeshift clinics. One video showed the bodies of a dozen

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people lying on the floor of a clinic, with no visible wounds.

The narrator in the video said they were all members of a single family. In a corridor outside lay another five

bodies.

A photograph taken by activists in Douma showed the bodies of at least 16 children and three adults, one

wearing combat fatigues, laid at the floor of a room in a medical facility where bodies were collected.

Khaled Omar of the opposition Local Council in Ain Tarma said he saw at least 80 bodies at the Hajjah

Hospital in Ain Tarma and at a makeshift clinic at Tatbiqiya School in the nearby district of Saqba.'The attack took place at around 3:00 a.m. (local time). Most of those killed were in their homes,' Omar said.

Syrian state television quoted a source as saying there was 'no truth whatsoever' to the reports.

Syria is one of just a handful of countries that are not parties to the international treaty that bans chemical

weapons, and Western nations believe it has caches of undeclared mustard gas, sarin and VX nerve agents.

Activists say most of those killed were in their homes

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Heartbreak: Relatives and activists inspect the bodies of the dead

British Foreign Secretary William Hague says the gas attacks are a 'shocking escalation'

Assad's officials have said they would never use poison gas - if they had it - against Syrians. The United

States and European allies believe Assad's forces used small amounts of sarin gas in attacks in the past,

which Washington called a 'red line' that justified international military aid for the rebels.

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Assad's government has responded in the past with accusations that it was the rebels that used chemical

weapons, which the rebels deny.

Western countries say they do not believe the rebels have access to poison gas. Assad's main global ally

Moscow says accusations on both sides must be investigated.

A Syrian family sits in a tent at Kawergost refugee camp in Iraq. Around 34,000 Syrians,

the vast majority of them Kurds, have fled the region over a five days

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Desperate: Syrian refugees cross into Iraq at the Peshkhabour border point in Dahuk

Around 30,000 Syrians, the vast majority of them Kurds, have fled the region over a

five-day stretch and crossed the border to the self-ruled Kurdish region of northern Iraq

Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby yesterday called for United Nations inspectors to immediately

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investigate reports of the chemical attack.

'The secretary general said in a statement he was surprised this deplorable crime would happen during the

visit of a team of international investigators with the United Nations who are already tasked with investigating

chemical weapons use,' the official news agency MENA said.

'He called on the inspectors to head immediately to the eastern Ghouta (suburb of Damascus) to determine

what happened.'

The timing and location of the reported chemical weapons use - just three days after the team of U.N.chemical experts checked in to a Damascus hotel a few miles to the east at the start of their mission - was

surprising.

'Logically, it would make little sense for the Syrian government to employ chemical agents at such a time,

particularly given the relatively close proximity of the targeted towns (to the U.N. team),' said Charles Lister,

analysts at IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre.

'Nonetheless, the Ghouta region (where the attacks were reported) is well known for its opposition leanings.

Authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan have imposed a quota in an effort to limit the flood of

refugees

Jabhat al-Nusra has had a long-time presence there and the region has borne the brunt of sustained military

pressure for months now,' he said, referring to a hardline Sunni Islamist rebel group allied to al Qaeda.

'While it is clearly impossible to confirm the chemical weapons claim, it is clear from videos uploaded by

reliable accounts that a large number of people have died.'

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said dozens of people were

killed, including children, in fierce bombardment. It said Mouadamiya, southwest of the capital, came under the

heaviest attack since the start of the two-year conflict.

The Observatory called on the U.N. experts and international organisations to visit the affected areas to

ensure aid could be delivered and to 'launch an investigation to determine who was responsible for the

bombardment and hold them to account'.

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Comments (1896)

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Heartbreaking tragic mess. Wasn't the UN created to deal with stuff like this? The world sits on its hands and the children die.

Unforgivable.

- Rick60 , Cuiaba, 22/8/2013 08:41

Click to rate Rating 863

Report abuse

Please do something about this.

- Enie , Northants.UK, 22/8/2013 08:41

Click to rate Rating 568

Report abuse

- johnbrianshannon, Vancouver, 22/08/2013 07:34 Enjoy your laptop, smartphone that you used to post this message

- Rudolf , Jupiter, 22/8/2013 08:40

Click to rate Rating 181

Report abuse

WE need to put an end to this NOW before any more innocent children die! Do what it takes and stop this today.

- Berlesduna - Essex , London, United Kingdom, 22/8/2013 08:38

Click to rate Rating 351

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Report abuse

The most distressing image for me is the teenage boy crying. Old enough to feel the full impact, not old enough to ever make any

sense of it. Mentally damaged now beyond repair, this event will be with him for the rest of his life. Always thinking the worst, always

aware of how cruel people can be. He's seen it first hand. How does a teenage get past that?

- Chris , Staines U T, 22/8/2013 08:38

Click to rate Rating 549

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Their fight is over, pray for the living.

- geek , Cornwall, 22/8/2013 08:37

Click to rate Rating 191

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I think DM should remove the photos of the dead children's faces. No one wants to look at dead children! Poor babies. - Rachel ,

somewhere sunny, 21/8/2013 15:22 Click to rate Rating 22 She gets 22 green arrows and i get red arrows....funny people

sometimes... Just remember that when 9/11 happened we did not see any pictures of the casualties or dead people. Just a thought

of how people are rated these days!

- GIGA , beirut, Lebanon, 22/8/2013 08:36

Click to rate Rating 119

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I don't mean to sound insensitive here, but could this all be staged for propaganda purposes? Those children look like they are

asleep, not dead.To me (and I have seen many bodies) they have too much colour to be dead.

- scotty , wales, 22/8/2013 08:36

Click to rate Rating 513

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Words cannot describe. RIP to all children taken too early in life.

- James , Manchester, 22/8/2013 08:35

Click to rate Rating 341

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Obama: Red line crossed, or can you only pick on BP & Banks

- fed up , bolton, United Kingdom, 22/8/2013 08:35

Click to rate Rating 218

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