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This image provided by the Shaam News Network shows victims of an apparent chemical weapons attack being buried in a suburb of Damascus, Aug. 21, 2013.
Some 3,000 suffocating, twitching victims were reported to have flooded into hospitals following the attack in the eastern Ghouta suburbs. Others were later found dead in their homes, towels still on their faces from their last moments trying to protect themselves from gas.
While a United Nations inspection team works to conclusively determine the nature of the attack, Secretary of State John Kerry has stated that the evidence indicates that it is "undeniable" that chemical weapons were used against civilians. With President Obama having described the use of chemical weapons in Syria as a "red line," the United States now appears to be gearing up for military action against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Read more:Syria chemical weapons attack blamed on Assad but where is the evidence? Credit: Shaam News Network/AP
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WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IMAGES ARE GRAPHIC AND MAY BE DISTURBING TO SOME VIEWERS
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This image provided by Shaam News Network on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2013, purports to show dead bodies after an attack on Ghouta, Syria on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2013.
Credit: AP/Shaam News Network
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A mobile medical unit set up inside Syria treated hundreds of people after an attack that medical professionals there believe was caused by a nerve agent.
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A young boy gasps for air in a makeshift hospital after an alleged chemical weapons attack on the eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus, in an image taken from unverified video posted online by Syrian opposition activists, Aug. 21, 2013.
Credit: YouTube
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The bodies of people killed in an alleged nerve gas attack are seen in a makeshift morgue in the eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus, in an image taken from unverified video posted by an opposition group on YouTube, Aug. 21, 2013.
Credit: YouTube
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In this citizen journalism image provided by the Local Committee of Arbeen, a Syrian man reacts as he carries a dead body of a Syrian girl, after an alleged poisonous gas attack fired by regime forces, according to activists in Arbeen town, Damascus, Syria, Aug. 21, 2013.
Credit: AP/Local Committee of Arbeen
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A Syrian man mourns over a dead body after an alleged poisonous gas attack fired by regime forces, according to activists, in Douma town, Damascus, Syria, Aug. 21, 2013. Syrian regime forces fired intense artillery and rocket barrages Wednesday on the eastern suburbs of the capital Damascus, in what two pro-opposition groups claimed was a "poisonous gas" attack that killed dozens of people.
Credit: Media Office Of Douma City/AP
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A citizen journalism image provided by the Local Committee of Arbeen, shows Syrian citizens receiving treatment after an alleged poisonous gas attack fired by regime forces, according to activists in Arbeen town, Damascus, Syria, Aug. 21, 2013.
Credit: AP/Local Committee of Arbeen
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Syrian citizens try to identify dead bodies, after an alleged poisonous gas attack fired by regime forces, according to activists in Arbeen town, Damascus, Syria, Aug. 21, 2013.
Credit: AP/Local Committee of Arbeen
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In this citizen journalism image provided by the Local Committee of Arbeen, a Syrian girl receives treatment at a makeshift hospital in Arbeen town, Damascus, Syria, Aug. 21, 2013.
Credit: AP/Local Committee of Arbeen
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In this image taken from amateur video footage provided by the Media Office Of Moadamiyeh, a UN inspector, right, speaks to people about the alleged chemical weapon attack as a UN inspection team visits a makeshift hospital in Moadamiyeh, a suburb of the Syrian capital of Damascus, Aug. 26, 2013.
Credit: AP/Media Office Of Moadamiyeh
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An image taken from amateur video footage provided by the Media Office Of Moadamiyeh purports to show medics assisting a man lying on a bed who appears to be shaking uncontrollably as a UN inspection team visits a makeshift hospital in Moadamiyeh, a suburb of the Syrian capital of Damascus, Aug. 26, 2013.
Credit: AP/Media Office Of Moadamiyeh
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In an image taken from amateur video footage provided by the Media Office Of Moadamiyeh, a UN inspector, right, speaks to a man about the alleged chemical weapon attack as a UN inspection team visits a makeshift hospital in Moadamiyeh, a suburb of the Syrian capital of Damascus, Aug. 26, 2013.
Credit: Media Office Of Moadamiyeh/AP