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‘BIG PRICE TO PAY'
Syria gas attack – Donald Trump slams ‘animal’ Assad as world fury mounts over Syrian regime ‘nerve gas’ attack that killed 70
DONALD Trump declared "animal" Bashar al-Assad "must pay" as world fury mounted over a suspected nerve agent attack in Syria that killed at least 70.
Harrowing footage has shown gassed kids foaming at the mouth after the tyrant's jets dropped a deadly cocktail of chlorine and apparent Sarin gas on the rebel-held town of Douma.
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Trump threatened a "strong response"; after dozens of kids were killed in the strike.
Dying tots were pictured fighting for their lives, as 1,000 civilians were affected in what is feared to have been the worst chemical attack in Syrian history.
It is claimed an illegal Doomsday nerve agent was mixed with chlorine gas and dropped on a hospital following the collapse of a truce on Friday.
A furious President Trump wrote on Twitter: "Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria.
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"Area of atrocity is in lockdown and encircled by Syrian Army, making it completely inaccessible to outside world."
He added: "President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price to pay".
Syrian state media reported an airport in Homs was targeted by missile strikes on Monday morning – but the US denied any involvement.
Earlier Pope Francis joined Britain and the US State Department in condemning the nerve agent attack, saying "nothing can justify" the use chemical weapons against defenceless populations.
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And Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson last night said reports of the attack and the high number of casualties were “deeply disturbing” - and demanded the international community hold those responsible to account.
He added: “Should it be confirmed the regime has used chemical weapons again, it would be yet another appalling example of the Assad regime’s brutality and blatant disregard for both the Syrian people and its legal obligations not to use chemical weapons.”
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THE IMMEDIATE SIGNS A PERSON HAS BEEN EXPOSED TO SARIN GAS
Sarin is a clear and colourless gas, so people may not know they have been exposed.
Those exposed to a low or medium dose of sarin gas by breathing contaminated air, eating contaminated food, drinking contaminated water or touching a contaminated surface may experience symptoms within seconds, according to the Centers for disease Control and Prevention in the US (CDC).
In others it may take hours for symptoms to appear.
hose who have been exposed may experience:
- runny nose
- watery eyes
- small pupils
- eye pain
- blurred vision
- drooling and excessive sweating
- a cough
- tightness in the chest
- rapid breathing
- diarrhoea
- nausea and vomiting
- weeing more often
- confusion
- drowsiness
- weakness
- headache
- slow or fast heart rate
- low or high blood pressure
Exposure to larger amounts of the nerve agent can have much more harmful, if not fatal, effects.
People may experience:
- loss of consciousness
- convulsions
- paralysis
- respiratory failure leading to death
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An emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council will take place on Monday in response to the atrocity - with White House sources indicating that nothing is “off the table”.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “The horrific deaths and injuries in Douma point to a chemical attack which must be fully investigated by the UN and those responsible held to account.
"The need to restart real negotiations for peace and a political settlement in Syria could not be more urgent.”
Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner added: “there must be a day of reckoning for those responsible”.
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Volunteer rescue team The White Helmets — who first estimated up to 150 had been killed — tweeted graphic images showing bodies of men, women and children hiding in a basement in the town.
Another video circulated by activists shows lifeless bodies with foam in their mouths as a voice says: "Douma city, April 7 ... there is a strong smell here".
Many of the images are so graphic and disturbing that The Sun Online has chosen not to publish them.
One upsetting photograph shows a slain family hiding in a basement as the dad shields his wife and baby.
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Relief groups said a chlorine bomb hit a hospital killing six people — and a second blast killed 35 when it rocked a nearby apartment building.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 11 people had died as a result of suffocation caused by the smoke from conventional weapons being dropped by the government.
Rami Abdulrahman, the Observatory director, said he could not yet confirm if chemical weapons had been used.
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Basel Termanini, the U.S.-based vice president of volunteer medics SAMS, said: "We are contacting the U.N. and the U.S. government and the European governments."
The Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations said at least 70 people were killed in the strike.
A joint statement from SAMS and the White Helmets this morning said medics had treated more than 500 people with breathing difficulties, frothing from the mouth and smelling of chlorine.
The Syrian government — who denied responsibility for any chemical attack — today agreed to talks with rebel group Jaish al-Islam.
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It was later reported by state media that a deal was reached for the rebels to leave Douma.
Syria’s state news agency Sana said the reports were invented by the Jaish al- Islam rebels, who remain in control in Douma.
A spokesman said: “Jaish al-Islam terrorists are in a state of collapse and their media outlets are making chemical attack fabrications in an exposed and failed attempt to obstruct advances by the Syrian Arab army.”
But the pro-opposition Ghouta Media Centre said hundreds of people began collapsing after a barrel bomb dropped from a helicopter dispersed the deadly nerve agent Sarin in streets and buildings.
One opposition aid group described it as “one of the worst chemical attacks in Syrian history” as hospitals were overwhelmed with gasping victims.
A spokeswoman for the Union of Medical Relief Organizations said people were being treated for symptoms including convulsions and foaming of the mouth, consistent with nerve agent poisoning.
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Washington’s State Department said it is following the “disturbing reports” closely, adding: “The US continues to use all efforts available to hold those who use chemical weapons, in Syria and otherwise, accountable.”
Mr Trump, who for years signalled he was comfortable with Assad staying in power, was last night drawing up plans for strikes on the Syrian leader’s weapons plants.
He also blasted predecessor Barack Obama for failing to stand up to Assad during his time in the White House.
Children filmed struggling to breathe in horrifying video of aftermath of suspect chlorine gas attack in Ghouta, Syria
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