Evidence of Nerve Gas in Aleppo Deaths

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon OBE, a chemical weapons expert and the founder and COO of London-based SecureBio, said, "Atropine is the antidote to nerve agent poisoning, so it's used widely [to treat poisoning] in the U.K., and the U.S. It's the recognized antidote."

"The British Foreign Security William Hague mentioned in the House of Commons on Monday that they had very strong evidence that chemical weapons were being used in Syria. On Sunday, we saw a number of reports that those three people were killed in Aleppo. We were sent a load of photos, a load of stuff. The symptoms that were described would be similar to nerve agent poisoning, and the use of atropine would have been an effective method to treat these people."

He said that though certainty was impossible, the likely answer was that improvised chemical weapons had been used, and that they are possibly being used by both sides -- "by the regime to show that the opposition are using chemical weapons, and by the opposition to show that the regime is using them. Obviously if the regime is using them, then a red line is crossed and things are changed."

Improvised chemical weapons are a term for chemical phosphates, a key component to pesticides that have the same biological structure as nerve agents. "I think that a lot of these events have been organic phosphates or pesticides which have been blown up," de Bretton-Gordon said, adding that "thousands" of people die around the world from these each year.

In addition, "there's been a lot of reporting of a chemical called CL 17, which is basic domestic chlorine being used and being blown up. It gives off similar symptoms to mustard gas poisoning...

"You can get on the internet and quite easily figure out how to make these improvised chemicals. But until we get people on the ground and get some proper testing, we're not going to get answers. The U.N. is sitting on the ground in Cyprus waiting to get visas. I don't see Assad giving them visas at this stage. And so either than smuggling samples out, it's hard to get a surefire reading," de Bretton-Gordon said.

A Kurdish journalist who filmed the aftermath of the attack in Aftrin was also recuperating at the hospital. He said there were two canisters in the house, one plastic and the other metal, with valves used to deploy the gas. He said residents in the area say they heard a helicopter earlier that night, but none of the survivors confirmed the presence of a helicopter immediately prior to the strike.

Yasser's neighbors – who, like Yasser, are Arabs living in a Kurdish neighborhood – were the first to respond, and they described smelling a sharp, bitter odor that stung their eyes when they entered the home. One of the men tried to carry the baby, but collapsed once he reached him.

Other survivors described a similar odor. Medical staff said the chemicals from the victims caused some symptoms among nurses and doctors hours after the initial exposure.

The two children died shortly after the attack. Their mother survived for a few hours, but her heart stopped at the hospital in Afrin, according to Turki, an anesthesiology technician. The staff resuscitated her and tried to transport her to Atme, Idlib, to hook her up to a respirator there, because the sole device was occupied in Afrin, but she didn't survive the journey.

One of the last moments that Yasser remembers before losing consciousness was getting dizzy and falling to the ground. "I saw my wife nearby; I crawled over to her and hugged her. Then I woke up in Afrin."

His neighbors told him that the house was intact, that the bomb was just gas and didn't cause much damage. "I wish my whole house was destroyed rather than have to deal with this smell," Yasser said. "I just want to know that my wife and children are fine."

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