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Alleged Syrian chemical attack captured in graphic YouTube videos

At least 100 people were killed in the attack on Wednesday. 

 

Tim Sampson

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Posted on Aug 21, 2013   Updated on Jun 1, 2021, 8:34 am CDT

The evidence of a horrific chemical weapons attack by the embattled Syrian government near Damascus is piling up online.

According to the Washington Post, Syrian activist have accused the government on Wednesday of carrying out a major gas attack that has killed at least a 100 people in the city’s suburbs, filling local hospitals with countless victims.

The death toll from the attack—which the government denies—changes depending on who you ask. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in the U.K., said at least 100 people were killed in the attack but that the number was likely to rise. The Syrian Opposition Coalition claims at least 1,300 dead.

Though world leaders are still working to confirm what role Syria’s government, led by the authoritarian Bashar Al-Assad, had in the attack, evidence of its devastation is already on YouTube.

This video purports to show the attack actually taking place at night:

Another extremely graphic video shows Damascus citizens holding up what appears to be a dead infant, presumably killed in the attack.

This video purports to show the direct aftermath of the attack as bodies are removed from the streets and survivors struggle to help the victims.

A playlist of other videos from the attack, which occurred in the Eastern Ghouta suburb, can be found here.

Video evidence and social media have been vital tools for anti-government forces in Syria attempting to document the Al-Assad regime’s use of force against its own citizens. This has led the government to allegedly undertake several purposeful Internet blackouts to help keep information from getting out to the rest of the world.

H/T Gawker | Photo by Shamsnn/YouTube

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*First Published: Aug 21, 2013, 2:41 pm CDT