Idlib, northwest Syria – It has been 10 years since the chemical attacks in eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus, and Umm Yahya – a nurse at a local hospital at the time – still cannot forget the images of people convulsing and foaming at the mouth.
Shortly after midnight on August 21, 2013, the Syrian regime attacked the towns of Zamalka, Ein Tarma, and Irbin in the Ghouta countryside with a nerve agent.
According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), a total of 1,127 people were killed in the attacks. Nearly 6,000 others suffered from suffocation and respiratory problems.
The SNHR said gassing people in their sleep demonstrates that the attacks were “premeditated and deliberate”.
“The weather in the region had been forecast to be relatively cool and calm between 02:00 and 05:00 that night, meaning those responsible knew that the air would be still and the heavy poison gas would naturally drift downwards and settle at ground level rather than blowing away,” a statement by the rights group said.
At the time, Umm Yahya had finished her shift at the hospital at about 1am. She noted that, unusually, she was short of breath, and went home. But a few minutes later, an ambulance driver she knew – Abu Khaled – was knocking on her door, telling her there were many injured people.
Article from www.aljazeera.com
