A rocket attack by ISIS militants in northern Syria caused symptoms of “chemical gas” in 22 Syrian rebels, state media cited the Turkish armed forces as saying on Sunday.



The attack targeted Turkey-backed rebels who have been besieging the ISIS-controlled town of al-Bab for days. Al-Bab is a major target in the “Euphrates Shield” operation to push the extremists away from the Syrian side of the Turkish border.



The Turkish military said the rocket attack was in Syria’s Haliliye area, according to state-run Anadolu agency. It did not specify when the attack occurred.



Media reports said Turkish AFAD emergency relief teams had conducted various tests on the affected rebels for traces of chemical materials at a hospital in Turkey’s border province of Kilis.

Last Update: Sunday, 27 November 2016 KSA 11:16 - GMT 08:16 </s> A fighter from the Syrian pro-government forces mans a riffle inside a damaged house in the recently recaptured village of Joubah during an offensive towards the area of Al Bab in Aleppo province on Friday (AFP photo)

ISTANBUL — The Daesh terror group militants have fired a rocket in northern Syria that caused symptoms of “chemical gas” exposure in 22 Syrian rebels, state media cited Turkey’s military as saying on Sunday.

The attack targeted Turkey-backed rebels who have for days been besieging Daesh-controlled town of Al Bab, a major goal in Ankara’s “Euphrates Shield” operation to push the extremists away from the Syrian side of the Turkish border.

According to the state-run Anadolu agency, the Daesh rocket attack occurred in the Haliliye area. The army did not specify where the attack had taken place.

“Twenty-two rebels were observed to have symptoms of being exposed to chemical gas in their eyes and bodies as a result of the rocket fired by Daesh,” media reports quoted the army statement as saying.

The rebels were transferred to a hospital in Turkey’s border province of Kilis on suspicion of chemical poisoning after complaining of constant sickness and severe headaches, Hurriyet newspaper reported on its website.

Turkish AFAD emergency relief teams conducted various tests on them to check for traces of chemical, other media reported.

In the last 24 hours around Al Bab, Turkish jets have destroyed four Daesh targets in the Anifah region, and one Turkey-backed Syrian rebel has been killed and 14 wounded in clashes, the military said.

On Thursday, three Turkish soldiers were killed in an air strike in Syria, which the army said it believed was carried out by the Syrian air force. It happened on the first anniversary of Turkey’s downing of a Russian jet over Syria and raised fears of an escalation in the conflict.

After the air strike, Dogan news agency said on Saturday Turkey deployed low-altitude air defence systems with Stinger missiles to Gaziantep province on its Syrian border.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the air strike with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday. They spoke again late on Saturday about “Syria and efforts to resolve the humanitarian drama in Aleppo”, sources in Erdogan’s office said.

Russia is Syrian President Bashar Assad’s main military backer. Turkey backs rebels fighting to oust him.

Ankara and Moscow only restored ties, which had been damaged by November’s jet incident, in August. While they continue to pursue conflicting goals in Syria, Turkey has of late been less openly critical of Assad than in the past. </s> The attack targeted Turkey-backed rebels who have for days been besieging the Islamic State-controlled town of al-Bab, a major goal in Ankara's "Euphrates Shield" operation to push the jihadists away from the Syrian side of the Turkish border.

According to the state-run Anadolu agency, the Islamic State rocket attack occurred in the Haliliye area. The army did not specify where the attack had taken place.

"Twenty-two rebels were observed to have symptoms of being exposed to chemical gas in their eyes and bodies as a result of the rocket fired by Daesh," media reports quoted the army statement as saying, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

The rebels were transferred to a hospital in Turkey's border province of Kilis on suspicion of chemical poisoning after complaining of constant sickness and severe headaches, Hurriyet newspaper reported on its website.

Turkish AFAD emergency relief teams conducted various tests on them to check for traces of chemical, other media reported.

In the last 24 hours around al-Bab, Turkish jets have destroyed four Islamic State targets in the Anifah region, and one Turkey-backed Syrian rebel has been killed and 14 wounded in clashes, the military said.

On Thursday, three Turkish soldiers were killed in an air strike in Syria which the army said it believed was carried out by the Syrian air force. It happened on the first anniversary of Turkey's downing of a Russian jet over Syria and raised fears of an escalation in the conflict.

After the air strike, Dogan news agency said on Saturday Turkey deployed low-altitude air defense systems with Stinger missiles to Gaziantep province on its Syrian border.

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan discussed the air strike with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday. They spoke again late on Saturday about "Syria and efforts to resolve the humanitarian drama in Aleppo", sources in Erdogan's office said.

Russia is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's main military backer. Turkey backs rebels fighting to oust him.

Ankara and Moscow only restored ties, which had been damaged by November's jet incident, in August. While they continue to pursue conflicting goals in Syria, Turkey has of late been less openly critical of Assad than in the past. </s> Syrian rebels were hit by a chemical gas attack from Islamic State (IS) jihadists in northern Syria, the Turkish army said on Sunday.

"After a rocket was fired by Daesh (IS), 22 opposition members were observed to have been exposed in their eyes and bodies to chemical gas," the general staff said in a statement, quoted by the state-run Anadolu news agency.

It said the attack happened in the area of the village of Khaliliya, east of Al Rai in northern Syria.

Turkish media said that the affected Syrian fighters were brought over the frontier to the Turkish border town of Kilis by teams from Turkey's AFAD emergencies agency.

The reports said that the Turkish emergency workers were equipped with special chemical suits to protect themselves. The Syrians were brought to the main hospital in Kilis where they are currently undergoing treatment.

Television pictures showed some of the Syrians being transferred on stretchers to the hospital, with the emergency workers dressed in full-body white protective clothing and gas masks.

The Turkish army is backing the Syrian fighters in an unprecedented incursion aimed at rooting out IS jihadists from the border area and also ensuring there is no Kurdish militia presence.

In a three-month operation, the rebels have so far captured the IS stronghold of Jarabulus, cleared IS from Al Rai and retaken the symbolically important town of Dabiq without much resistance.

With Turkish support, they are now pressing to take Al Bab from the jihadists in an advance that appears to be taking more time and encountering greater opposition. </s> The attack targeted Turkey-backed rebels who have been besieging the Islamic State-controlled town of al-Bab for days. Al-Bab is a major target in the "Euphrates Shield" operation to push the jihadists away from the Syrian side of the Turkish border.

The Turkish military said the rocket attack was in Syria's Haliliye area, according to state-run Anadolu agency. It did not specify when the attack occurred.

Media reports said Turkish AFAD emergency relief teams had conducted various tests on the affected rebels for traces of chemical materials at a hospital in Turkey's border province of Kilis. (Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Louise Ireland) </s> Turkish deputy PM talks on causes of chemical weapons use in Syria

The main reason for the use of chemical weapons in Syria is related to the fact that the world community didn’t apply tough sanctions against the Assad regime at the time, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said, Turkish media reported April 16.

Bozdag noted that Turkey is not only against the use of chemical weapons against civilians, but also strictly condemns all acts of violence against the peaceful population of Syria.

“Turkey’s policy towards Syria is very clear - Ankara stands for stability in the region,” Bozdag said.

On April 14, Joseph Dunford, a US Marine Corps general and the 19th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the US and its allies fired more than 100 missiles at Syria at 9 p.m. EST (1 a.m. GMT) and three main chemical weapons facilities were targeted by missiles from both the sea and aircraft, which triggered Syrian air defenses. </s> ANKARA: One of Turkey’s observation posts was hit by shelling from an area controlled by Syrian government forces in northwestern Syria, the Turkish defence ministry said on Sunday.

There were no casualties but the ministry said equipment was damaged in the assault while Turkish forces "immediately retaliated with heavy weapons". Shelling and mortar fire "understood to be deliberate" fired from Tall Bazan region held by Syrian regime forces hit the post in Murak region, the ministry said in a statement.

The assault comes less than four days after three Turkish soldiers were hit in another attack Turkey said was "deliberate" on another observation post on Thursday. Two Turkish soldiers were hurt in May in a similar attack blamed on Damascus.

Turkey has 12 military observation posts in Idlib, northwestern Syria, the last bastion of Jihadist forces, in a bid to prevent a large-scale offensive in the region. Ankara fears such an assault would push hundreds of thousands of refugees into Turkey. Turkish officials made representations to Russia about the latest attack, the ministry said. Moscow provides support to the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad. </s> Three Turkish soldiers were killed and 10 were wounded in northern Syria on Thursday in what the Turkish military said was a pre-dawn airstrike believed to have been carried out by Syrian government forces.

A statement posted on the website of the Turkish Armed Forces said the attack took place at 3 a.m. but did not provide an exact location for the strike. Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency said the airstrike took place near the town of al-Bab, which Turkish-backed Syrian opposition forces are trying to take back from the Islamic State group.

However, a Syrian monitoring group that tracks the conflict through a network of activists on the ground said the deaths of the Turkish soldiers were caused by an IS suicide attack on Wednesday, disputing the Turkish government claim of a Thursday airstrike.

Rami Abdurrahman, who runs the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the suicide attack occurred Wednesday in the rural area of al-Bab, near a village called Waqqah. He dismissed reports that it was an airstrike.

The discrepancies in the statements from Ankara and Abdurrahman could not be immediately resolved. There was no comment from Damascus but the Aamaq news agency, an IS media arm, also reported a suicide attack against Turkish troops in a village in rural al-Bab on Wednesday.

The area is remote and no independent reporting is possible from there.

One of the wounded soldiers was said to be in critical condition, the Turkish military said.

If the attack is confirmed to be a Syrian government airstrike, it is likely to ratchet up tensions between Ankara and Damascus.

In August, Ankara sent ground troops into northern Syria to support Syrian opposition fighters battle the IS and to curb Syrian Kurdish forces' territorial gains. Ankara views Syrian Kurdish troops as an extension of the Kurdish insurgency in southeastern Turkey.

The Turkish troops are not fighting Syrian government forces and the attack would be the first assault on Turkish soldiers by the Syrian government forces.

In Ankara, Turkey's main opposition party leader urged the government to act "with common sense" and not escalate tensions.

"This (issue) could drag Turkey toward a very dangerous process," Kemal Kilicdaroglu said on Thursday.

Citing national security considerations, Turkish authorities imposed a temporary media ban on coverage of the attack, barring media outlets from reports that "foster fear, panic and chaos," and contain images of the deceased or the wounded, or exaggerated accounts.

The bodies of the dead were taken to the morgue in the southeastern Turkish city of Gaziantep by helicopter, the Turkish army said. The 10 wounded soldiers were being treated at hospitals in Gaziantep and in the neighboring city of Kilis.

The Turkish military, meanwhile, pressed ahead with its efforts to capture al-Bab.

Turkish warplanes struck IS positions in al-Bab and the northern Syrian towns of Kabbasin, Bzagah and Arimah, destroying a building reportedly used as an IS headquarters and seven defensive positions, Anadolu reported, citing unnamed Turkish military officials. </s> Israel's attack on the Syrian Arab Air Force's (SyAAF) Tiyas airbase in Homs province was nothing less than a provocation, Turkish analysts opined, drawing attention to the fact that the airstrike occurred following unconfirmed reports about the alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta.

"While Damascus' position and its influence in Syria is growing and Syrian government forces are making considerable progress on the fronts, it is completely unconvincing and illogical to claim that the Syrian authorities conducted a chemical attack," ex-Lieutenant General of the Turkish Armed Forces, Erdogan Karakus, told Sputnik Turkey. "Israel is doing everything possible to destabilize and confuse the situation in the region. These steps are part of yet another provocation on the part of the West."

Moscow denied the allegations, referring to the fact that the Russian Defense Ministry had repeatedly warned about upcoming chemical provocations in the region amid the Syrian Arab Army's (SAA) successful advance. The Russian Foreign Ministry highlighted that "that military intervention under far-fetched and fabricated pretexts in Syria… is absolutely unacceptable and might lead to very severe consequences."

The retired lieutenant general pointed out that the West is hiding the real state of affairs while spreading false information as the truth.

"There is a serious struggle for power and influence, which affects the UN," he said. "Turkey, Russia and Iran are on the one side. On the opposite side are the West, the US and Israel."

'Israel Seeking to Provoke War Between US and Iran'

Major General Beyazit Karatas, a retired Turkish Air Force officer who previously served as a military attaché in Washington, recalled that it is not the first time that Israel has attacked the Tiyas (T-4) airbase, where Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are reportedly located.

"Israel's major task for a long period of time has been to provoke a war between the US and Iran," Karatas opined. "This desire of Israel is supported by Saudi Arabia. But the United States behaves cautiously, taking into account the potential reaction of Russia, Turkey, Iran and China. Therefore, they [the US] do not engage in clashes in the region directly, but provide support to local players, using them for their own purposes."

Why Alleged Douma Attack Appears to Be a Staged Provocation

The retired major general called the claims about the alleged chemical attack in Douma "ridiculous."

"It is presumed that the sarin gas was used that during the [alleged] chemical attack, but in fact it was not used," Karatas said. "If you look at the photos published in Western media, you will clearly see that it was a staged event. If, as it claimed, sarin was used [in Douma], neither the father depicted in the photo could take the child in his hands, nor anyone actually could take these pictures. This is a staged farce."

At the same time, the US, Israel and their Western allies are trying to present chlorine as a chemical weapon, Karatas continued. According to the retired major general, these claims do not hold water: Being a toxic substance, gaseous chlorine is by no means a weapon of mass destruction, he says.

"In order to kill people located in one building, you will need to use at least 50 tons of chlorine. In a word, this is not a substance that can be used as a weapon of mass destruction," he explained.

As for sarin, if this gas was actually used in Eastern Ghouta, no one could be there in ordinary masks, without special protective gear, as they would have died from poisoning, Karatas stressed.

"All of the above shows that the allegations and photographs are nothing more than a staged performance," he pointed out. "As you know, Russia has been previously accused by the West of poisoning [former spy Sergei] Skripal. However, it turned out to be a lie. Today few people in the world believe the West's false statements."

The retired major general underscored that it is quite obvious for "reasonable people" that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would never use chemical weapons under current conditions.

"In addition, if sarin — a gas with high volatility — was used, the biggest losses would be suffered by the Syrian military [deployed in the region] in the first place," Karatas elaborated.

On April 9, two Israeli Air Force F-15 fighter jets attacked the T-4 airfield from Lebanese airspace, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. The ministry pointed out that five out of eight strikes were repelled by Syrian air defenses. Israel's envoy to Russia was summoned by the Russian Foreign Ministry on April 10 over the incident.

The views and opinions expressed by Erdogan Karakus and Beyazit Karatas are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.
Turkish Armed Forces claim that an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant rocket attack on Turkish-backed Syrian rebel forces caused symptoms of chemical weapons in 22 soldiers.