At Least 35 People Killed in Reported Gas Attack on Idlib

At least 35 people were killed in a suspected gas attack on Idlib on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

Warplanes believed to be Syrian or Russian targeted the town of Khan Shaykhoun in rebel-held Idlib province. The airstrikes injured 60 people, according to the United Kingdom-based monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

People were choking, fainting and foaming at the mouth, according to SOHR. The Syrian government has not yet commented on the reported attack, and has repeatedly denied claims of using chemical weapons. A joint inquiry by the U.N. and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria accused the Syrian government of using toxic gas as a weapon three times in 2014–15.

Government Airstrikes Kill 22 People Outside Capital

At least 22 civilians were killed in government airstrikes outside Damascus on Monday, Agence France-Presse reported.

Air raids by Syrian government warplanes targeted rebel-held eastern Ghouta, with the largest number of civilians killed in Douma, according to SOHR.

Eastern Ghouta has been under government siege since 2013, and is a regular target for government bombing. Clashes intensified after rebels in an adjacent neighborhood, Jobar, launched a surprise assault on government forces last month.

The last major rebel enclave outside Damascus, eastern Ghouta is under the control of the Jaish al-Islam opposition group, a signatory of a Russian- and Turkish-brokered December cease-fire that has largely fallen apart.

International Donors Meet in Brussels to Pledge Humanitarian Aid, Back Peace Talks

International donors are expected to pledge billions of dollars at a two-day conference in Brussels for Syrian refugees, Reuters reported.

The U.N. has appealed for $8 billion this year from E.U. and Gulf countries to deal with the humanitarian crisis.

The conference, bringing together officials from 70 countries, also aims to support the U.N.-brokered peace talks.

“It is obvious that Europe cannot simply pay for the reconstruction without a political solution in Syria,” Dutch foreign minister Bert Koenders said. “At the same time, we can do a lot with humanitarian aid. At the moment we see access is very, very limited, which is unacceptable.”

A joint statement from E.U. foreign ministers on Monday accused the Syrian government of “deliberate restrictions” on E.U. aid deliveries and condemned “the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.”

A conference in London last year raised $11 billion. It is not clear how much will be raised in Brussels.

RECOMMENDED READS:

• Asharq Al-Awsat: De Mistura Stays U.N.’s Special Envoy for Syria as Geneva Talks Remain Stalled
• The Nation: How the Syrian Civil War Has Transformed Hezbollah
• Newsweek: War Over Water: ISIS and U.S. Battle Over Massive Dam That Could Shape Syrian Conflict
• Voice of America: Who Will Retake Raqqa?
• Al Jazeera: Syria’s ‘Moderate Rebels’ to Form a New Alliance