Child suffocates in Syria ‘chemical attack’

One child died and a woman was in a critical condition, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

Damaged cars and buildings are seen in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Damascus, Syria on February 25, 2018. Bassam Khabieh / Reuters

A man carries water cannisters in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Damascus on February 25, 2018. Bassam Khabieh / Reuters

Syrians walk along a street covered in debris from shelling in Arbin in the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta on February 25, 2018. Bdulmonam Eassa / AFP

Doctors tend to ten-year-old Omar who was injured in an air strike that killed several members of his family on their home in Otaybah, in Syria's rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta, as his father and seven-year-old sister, Manar, watch on at a make-shift hospital on February 25, 2018. Amer Almohibany / AFP

Syrians walk past destroyed buildings in Arbin in the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta on February 25, 2018. Abdulmonam Eassa / AFP

Syrians walk down a destroyed street in Arbin in the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta on February 25, 2018. Abdulmonam Eassa / AFP

Syrian children fill plastic containers at a water pump in Arbin in the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta on February 25, 2018. Abdulmonam Eassa / AFP

A child died and at least 13 other people suffered breathing difficulties after a suspected chemical attack on a besieged Syrian rebel enclave on Sunday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 14 civilians had suffered breathing difficulties after a regime warplane struck the village of Al Shifuniyah in the Eastern Ghouta region in Damascus.

A woman was in a critical condition, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Observatory, which relies on sources  in Syria for its reports.

Yaqub, a doctor who treated those affected, told AFP he suspected “chemical weapons, probably a chlorine gas attack”.

He said a three-year-old had died of asphyxiation.

"Most of the patients have chlorine odour ontheir clothes and their skin. Many have dyspnoea and skin and eye irritations," he said.

Rebels accused Damascus of using chlorine gas, but Moscow, a staunch ally of President Bashar Al Assad’s regime, accused his opponents of using “toxic substances” to make it appear that they had been used by regime forces.

Damascus, which has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons, has been accused of several chlorine gas attacks in recent weeks, including two in January in Eastern Ghouta, a rebel stronghold on the edge of the capital which has been battered by regime strikes since mid-February.

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Recent reports of regime chemical attacks have prompted France to warn of strikes in Syria, after similar remarks by an official in Washington.

The Observatory reported 21 cases of suffocation in Eastern Ghouta on January 22. Residents and medical sources said they suspected a chlorine attack.

A similar attack targeted the outskirts of Douma on January 13, the monitor said.

The Syrian regime has denied possessing chemical weapons.

The reports came a day after the United Nations demanded a ceasefire to end one of the most ferocious assaults of Syria’s civil war.

Regime forces have been engaged in an assault on Eastern Ghouta since February 18, killing more than 500 people.