Suspected Chemical Attack in Syria Kills Over 50 Innocent People

Over 50 innocent people, consisting mostly of women and children, in Syria died in what is now considered to be one of the deadliest chemical attacks in the country's six-year war.

According to a report from New York Times, the suspected chemical attack occurred after warplanes dropped bombs on Syria's northwestern Idlib Province. People who were caught by the toxic gas either choked or fainted. Others were observed foaming at their mouth after inhaling the chemical.

Estimates from the Syrian Observatory for Human Right revealed that at least 58 people, including 11 children, died due to the chemical attack. However, local doctors claim that the number of deaths is higher, noting that entire families were killed in their sleep.

Aside from choking and foaming at the mouth, doctors on the scene observed that the pupils of the victims were too constricted. This suggests that the chemical used in the attack is a more potent nerve agent or other banned toxins compared to chlorine, which was used in previous chemical attacks in Syria. Volunteers and hospital staff treating the victims were reported to be sickened after coming into contact with the patients.

Activists blame Syrian President Bashar al Assad. The Syrian National Coalition claimed that the warplanes used in the chemical attack were owned by the country's military.

"This bears all the hallmarks of an attack by the regime, which has repeatedly used chemical weapons," said British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, as per ARANEWS. "If this is shown to be the work of the regime, it is further evidence of the atrocities perpetrated against the Syrian people over six years of appalling conflict."

Just a few hours after the chemical attack in Syria, warplanes once again swoop from the sky, destroying a small hospital that's treating the victims of the earlier attack. The airstrike injured more than 100 people.

Idlib Province is a rebel-held area in northern Syria. Latest estimate show that the region houses more than 900,000 people, most of whom were displaced from other areas due to the long war.