ALEPPO – Syrian Islamist rebels attacked a Kurdish district in northern Aleppo with chemical weapons, leadership of the Kurdish forces of People’s Protection Units (YPG) said in a statement on Tuesday. “The Sheikh Maqsoud district in Aleppo was attacked with chemical weapons on Tuesday evening. Radical groups launched dozens of rockets filled with yellow phosphorus element,” the statement read.
The YPG’s leadership stressed that the attack was conducted by several Syrian Islamist armed groups, including the Islamic Movement of Ahrar al-Sham, the Levant Front, Sultan Murad Brigade, Sultan Fatih group, Fastaqim Kama Umirt Brigades, Nour ad-Din Zanki militia, Brigade 13 and 116, the First Regiment and Abu Amarah Brigades.
The bombardment, which continued until Tuesday midnight, caused dozens of casualties among civilians.
Speaking to ARA News in Aleppo, rights activist Rezan Hiddo appealed to the international community and human rights organizations to intervene and stop the fierce attack on the Kurdish district of Sheikh Maqsoud.
“We do not see any sympathy with the Kurdish civilians who suffer under those barbaric chemical attacks in Aleppo,” he argued. “Lives of hundreds of Kurdish children are at risk.”
The activist reported a sharp shortage of medicines in the district, which has been under siege by Islamist rebel groups for months.
Earlier on Sunday, at least 16 civilians were killed in Sheikh Maqsoud, mostly women and children, after insurgents fired dozens of rockets on the Kurdish district, according to local sources.