White Helmets: fresh attack by Syrian regime using chlorine gas

There has been a fresh chlorine gas attack in northern Syria, the Syrian civil defence organisation White Helmets said late on Sunday.

Nine people were injured in the attack in the city of Saraqeb, in Idlib province, including three White Helmet volunteers, the organisation said on Twitter. 

U.S. Defence Secretary James Mattis had last week said Washington was investigating the possible use of sarin gas by the Syrian government. The U.S. administration had also voiced concern about reported Syrian government use of chlorine gas to attack a remaining opposition enclave near Damascus.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry, in a statement published by the official news agency SANA, has rejected the allegations and stressed that Damascus has handed over its entire chemical arsenal to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).    (dpa)