Syria rebels, regime blame each other for first alleged chemical weapons attack

An image from Syrian state television shows a man being treated in an Aleppo province hospital after an alleged chemical weapons attack, March 19, 2013. / Syrian State TV

Updated at 11:39 a.m. Eastern

DAMASCUS, Syria The Syrian government accused rebels of firing a chemical weapon for the first time on Tuesday in the north of the country, killing at least 25 people in the war-torn Aleppo province. Rebels quickly denied the report and accused regime forces of firing a chemical weapon on a long-range missile.

Neither of the accusations could immediately be verified, and a chemical weapons expert in the U.K. told CBSNews.com there was very little evidence to suggest any actual chemical weapons had been deployed. A U.S. official, speaking anonymously to the Associated Press, also said there was no evidence of a chemical attack. Also expressing doubts was the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which reported no independent information of chemical weapons use.

At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney told reporters the administration had no evidence to suggest the rebels had used chemical weapons, but added: "We are looking carefully at the information as it comes in... This is an issue that has been made very clear by the president to be of great concern to us."

The Syrian state news agency SANA said "terrorists" had fired a rocket "containing chemical materials" into the area around the village of Khan al-Assal in the northern province of Aleppo. The regime regularly uses the term terrorists to refer to rebels fighting to overthrow authoritarian President Bashar Assad.

Russia, one of the Syrian regime's few remaining allies, joined the Assad regime in accusing the rebels of carrying out a chemical attack, calling it an "extremely dangerous" development in the crisis. The Foreign Ministry in Moscow said rebels had detonated a munition containing an unidentified chemical agent early Tuesday in Aleppo province, without giving further details. The claim was nearly identical to the reports by Syria's state media.

• Syrian opposition elects interim prime minister
• High-ranking Syrian general defects from army
• Syrian uprising reaches 2 year anniversary

"The rocket which was launched from Kafr Da'el in Neirab is a grave escalation," Syrian information minister Omran al-Zubi said in a televised statement. "The terrorists used a weapon that is banned in accordance with international law."

"The states which are arming, financing and housing the terrorists should be questioned about this crime," added al-Zubi. Syrian officials said at least 25 people, most of them civilians, were killed and dozens more wounded.

A photographer for the Reuters news agency said he had witnessed people come into hospitals with breathing problems after the attack.

"I saw mostly women and children," the Reuters photographer, who was not identified, told his editors. He said after visiting the University of Aleppo hospital and the al-Rajaa hospital -- both in state-controlled parts of Aleppo -- that victims "said that people were suffocating in the streets and the air smelt strongly of chlorine."

20 Photos

Two years of strife in Syria

An activist in the area said rebels had recently seized much of the village of Khan al-Assal, including a facility that housed a military academy.

The opposition Syrian Media Center said 20 people had died from "asphyxia and poisoning after a SCUD missile fired from Damascus struck" Khan al-Assal.

Chemical weapons expert and chief operating officer of SecureBio, Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, told CBSNews.com that based on video he had seen of victims in Aleppo hospitals, the symptoms were "not really those that are identified with nerve agents or mustard gas, which are the ones most likely to be used" inside Syria.

Bretton-Gordon noted that none of the people in the hospitals treating the attack victims were wearing protective clothing. If a chemical agent had been dispersed, he said, anybody coming into contact with the victims would also be affected; "doctors treating them would be overcome."

As for the reports of a chlorine smell near the scene of the attack, Bretton-Gordon said conventional high explosives can also produce an odor which might be mistaken for chlorine, and that weapons using the common household chemical haven't been widely used since World War I. He noted that mustard gas -- which Syria is known to have stockpiled -- can produce a chlorine-like odor, but there was no indication from the images he had seen that the devastating chemical agent had been used in Aleppo on Tuesday.

A militant with the rebel Free Syrian Army told CBS News via telephone Tuesday morning that the government's claim of a chemical attack had made him nervous that the government itself might be poised to use its banned weapons.

Bretton-Gordon, whose company has closely followed developments concerning the Syrian government's chemical weapons stockpiles, said the claims of a chemical weapon attack on Tuesday struck him as little more than "another bit of propaganda," but he couldn't say whether it was government propaganda or opposition propaganda.

There have been long-standing concerns that Syria's chemical weapons would be used by one side or the other in the 2-year-old civil war.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said recently that the longer the war goes on, the greater the danger of its institutions collapsing and extremists getting their hands on the Arab country's vast chemical weapons arsenal.

The reported attack was in an area just east of the city of Aleppo that had seen fierce fighting for weeks before rebels took over a sprawling government complex there last month. The facility included several military posts and a police academy that Assad's forces have turned into a military base that regularly fires shells at nearby villages.

[newshound1972]

Thats wierd, in January there were some emails leaked out. Along with many others. So what is actually going on here? PUBLISHED: 14:16 EST, 29 January 2013 | UPDATED: 14:16 EST, 29 January 2013 Leaked emails have allegedly proved that the White House gave the green light to a chemical weapons attack in Syria that could be blamed on Assad's regime and in turn, spur international military action in the devastated country. Hmmmmmm.

[webgone]

I n S y r i a t h e r e some forces like group A gave it to group B and then back to A,
then A gave to C and C not knowing B gave it to E but D would claim F had it.

Win the war and loose our trust, win our trust and forget about war. Maybe find some way around. Or something more to serve both sides.

This time it is more complicated than then, since them have learnt their lessions.

So Mr. President, this time it is not about man power or money it is about smartness and deception and it will go on till WW III. You want to be remembered as one that was smart ?

If You want to win the war on terror and injustice,
win the war on deception not people. Thank You.

(After you got into the White House, you had to learn to protect what you own the american people, now power around you gives you little choice, but no you can choose the right if you know more what is right there or here, sit it out a while, get smarter, make informed decisions, do not belittle or overlook)

[danielmeah21]

The right wing in washington and the government connected media ( You will never see the american media discredit the al-qaeda rebels) is having a field day.

Firstly why would assad attack his own stronghold? what kind of bafoon would believe the ring wing propaganda. America is bankrupt and your still trying to start more wars? why do american people vote for these corrupt politicians etc...

[ZSharpenedPen]

You leftist wanks keep referring to war mongers as 'right wingers' all you like until someone believes it. Obama is far left, just like the other democrats, and he's killed more people, and sent more soldiers to their deaths than president Bush (who was also leftwing by the way - voted most left wing senator by members of his own party). In fact, McCain and Romney (original creator of Obamacare) were also left wing pretend conservatives.

Right wingers believe in limited government (government has been growing year over year for decades), less taxes, more individual freedom and get this part, because it's extremely important in understanding the context here: LESS FOREIGN INTERVENTION.

I'm tired of 'right wingers' being blamed every time another leftist goes on the war path. As a conservative, I accept no responsibility for these wars, neither from the left or the right wing pretenders.

[ZSharpenedPen]

Bashar al-Assad, Syria's president has an approval rating of 55% - it is greater than the popularity of the pretender to the American throne Barrack Obama, whose own popularity is hovering around 48%.

Given that the president of Syria enjoys popular support, and that many if not most of the rebels are foreigners - many of these members of Al Qaeda and other jihadist terrorist fronts, why in the hell are we supporting the 'rebels'!!?? This is not a revolution, its a cold, planned, calculated terrorist insurgency, with financial backing from Washington itself.

[SpaceCoastCFL]

As an American I do not understand. Assad may not be the best dictator but I don't think its smart to be giving the same Islamic fundamentalists we fought in Iraq and have been fighting in Afghanistan weapons. History tells us nothing good comes from arming people who dislike the US to overthrow a stable regime which may also dislike the US. Can't believe we are arming people flying the Al Qaeda flag. Furthermore there is no way Assad could hold out this long without significant support from at least half his countrymen so what the hell are we doing? Another Obama curiosity...

[quincytodd]

Is the Syrian government really using chemical weapons against the so-called "rebels" or is this yet another poly by the right-wing thugs in Washington to get us into another one of their useless wars? With all the conniving going on in Washington these days, it's hard to tell!

[ZSharpenedPen]

There are right wingers in Washington? People who believe in less government, less foreign intervention, less taxes, and more freedom and individual liberties? Really? And, if they do indeed exist, perhaps hiding under a desk somewhere, why do you refer to them as 'thugs'?

[earth56]

QuincyTodd,

Maybe one day you'll pull out a history book and learn something.

World W2.....a Democratic President

Korean War..Democrat

Vietnam....Democrat

Iranian Hostage-1979....Democrat

I supported all those presidents so get off your partisanship and get an education.

[vissionquest]

They are murdering each other, yet somehow using chemical weapons is found embarrassing? This is just another form of rules for war --an oxymoron of the highest degree. There is no greater evil than extinguishing someone's life, yet people can "keep their self worth" by claiming they are following the rules of war. As long as people pretend you can kill "morally" war will continue to be easy to wage.

[dencal26]

Obama backed rebels use WMD

[ZSharpenedPen]

Of course, because the US government is backing the worst sorts of criminal terrorists in Syria, just as it did in Libya and Yemen.

[newshound1972]

Can you say False Flag? I knew you could.

[Fed-Up_Patriot]

Do we really have friends over there? If not then why should I care.

[terpsez11]

Okay when you report the ethnic composite and who is working for who in Syria---perhaps some of us will actually care about what you have to say about Syria---the Chicago clearinghouse is making sure you talk to us like we are children---hey we don't work at the White House---give us some clarity or forget about it

[icecap50]

Best tread lightly here. NEITHER side in this will turn out to be a friend, not even "not an outright enemy" of western civilization. How many times do we have to see how the Islamic radicals of all sects easily dominate their countries (the "moderate majority" is something of a figment of wishful thinking). Neither Sunni nor Shia loses any sleep over the fate of "the infidels" and inflict horrors on their own women and children in the name of Allah. Strangely, at the end of the day, the Shia of Iran are probably the more civilized of the lot - like choosing the black plague over ebola.

[SpaceCoastCFL]

I agree. Why waste our resources giving arms to people who are itching to turn them on the US at the first opportunity? Assad is not a great guy clearly but in that part of the world is it smart to disrupt a stable regime? Even if it is a dictatorship... he must have a lot of support to hold out for over two years. What a waste!