Fresh chemical attack in Syria reported as Trump considers military action

Late on Monday night, media groups and Twitter activists began claiming that there had been another gas assault

Several destroyed buildings in Douma, in the rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta on the outskirts of Damascus on March 5, 2018. Amer Almohibany / AFP

Syrian civilians walk above the rubble of destroyed buildings in the rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta on March 5, 2018 on the outskirts of Damascus. Hamza Al-Ajweh / AFP

A Syrian civilian watches as civil defence volunteers work on recovering a body from the rubble of a building in the rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta on March 5, 2018 on the outskirts of Damascus. Hamza Al-Ajweh / AFP

An UNHCR aid convoy drives through the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Damascus. Bassam Khabieh / Reuters

A boy stands as an aid convoy of Syrian Arab Red Crescent drives through the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Damascus, Syria on March 5, 2018. Bassam Khabieh / Reuters

A man stands on the rubble of a damaged building at the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Damascus, Syria on March 5, 2018. Bassam Khabieh / Reuters

A boy stands on the rubble of a damaged building at the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Damascus, Syria on March 5, 2018. Bassam Khabieh / Reuters

A man walks on the rubble of damaged buildings at the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Damascus, Syria on March 5, 2018. Bassam Khabieh / Reuters

A man pushes a cart past damaged buildings at the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Damascus, Syria on March 5, 2018. Bassam Khabieh / Reuters

Fresh reports of another chlorine gas attack are emerging from Eastern Ghouta in Syria, after another day of heavy bombardment by the Assad regime and accounts of 89 people killed in the area.

Just around 11pm local time on Monday night, activists on Twitter and a media centre in the city of Hamorouria began reporting another chemical attack by the Assad regime forces in the area.

The Hamorouria media centre reported 30 casualties – 28 of them women and children – who were evacuated “following an attack by regime forces using chlorine gas in the residential part of the city”, a Facebook post read:

Shortly after, Mohamad Katoub of the Syrian American Medical Society, tweeted “that 6 children, 4 women and 2 men were reported to be contaminated by a chlorine attack in Hamorieh in chlorine tonight. All victims arrived with moderate symptoms, and no fatality was reported”

Neither the HMC nor Sams reported fatalities from the attack, but the media centre described cases of asphyxiation.

News of another chlorine gas attack, the fourth suspected in Eastern Ghouta this year and eighth in Syria during the civil war, comes on one of deadliest days in the conflict.

Sams reported that 89 people were killed today, with the highest death toll of 21 coming from the town of Kafr Batna.

However, a United Nations aid convoy was allowed to enter Eastern Ghouta today, although there were conflicting reports emerging that some of the deliveries were taken by forces loyal to the Assad regime.

If the attack is proven, it comes at a tricky time for the debate in Washington. On Monday, the Washington Post reported that "the Trump administration has considered new military action against the Syrian government in response to reports of ongoing chemical weapons use."

Such action would come, if decided by the US president, in the form of punitive airstrikes against the Assad regime similar to those carried last April by on Shayret airbase near Homs.

The newspaper quote US officials saying that President Donald Trump had “requested options for punishing the Assad government following reported chlorine gas attacks” and that he “discussed potential actions early last week at a White House meeting that included Chief of Staff John Kelly, national security adviser HR McMaster and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.”