国际英语新闻:Rebels use "poisonous gas" in attack in Syria's Aleppo, wounding 44: state media

DAMASCUS, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- At least 44 civilians suffered suffocation as a result of a rebel attack with "poisonous gas" in Syria's northern city of Aleppo on Saturday, state TV reported.

The rebels fired projectiles stuffed with "poisonous gas" on the al-Khalidiyeh and Zahraa neighborhoods as well as the Nile Street in Aleppo city, said the report.

It said 44 people suffered suffocation and were taken to the hospitals, adding that two of them are in critical conditions.

The TV, meanwhile, aired footages from inside one of the hospitals in Aleppo, showing doctors rushing to help the wounded people.

A doctor said the situation of the patients are stable, noting that a child had to be taken to the intensive care unit. The type of the poisonous gas couldn't be identified immediately.

Some reports said it's chlorine gas.

The rebels in the countryside of Aleppo city have repeatedly targeted the city with mortar shells.

But it's the first instance in a while since the state media accused the rebels of firing shells with poisonous gas as the namesake capital city of Aleppo was fully liberated from the rebels in 2016 except the western and northern countryside.

During the more than seven-year war, the rebels and the Syrian government side traded accusations of chemical weapons in the battles.

In 2013, officials of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) arrived in Syria to monitor the dismantlement of the Syrian chemical weapons arsenal, after Damascus officially joined the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Convention.

The Syrian government said that the Western-backed rebels resorted to chemical weapons to frame the Syrian government and draw in foreign intervention.