Hundreds poisoned in US-led coalition’s strike on IS depot: SANA

Hundreds of people died from poisoning after an air strike by the US-led coalition on the headquarters and the depots of the Islamic State terrorist organization (outlawed in Russia) near Deir ez-Zor, the Syrian army command said in a statement circulated by SANA news agency.

The US-led coalition struck the terrorists’ positions at 5:30 p.m. local time on Wednesday. The air strike killed a large number of terrorists, including mercenaries, the statement said.

“However, a yellow smoke rose over the depot after the bombing. This is evidence that the depot stored chemical agents,” according to the document, TASS reports.

“As a result, hundreds of people, including civilians, died as a result of poisoning,” the statement reads.

The Syrian army command did not give the exact number of people who had died or suffered in the coalition’s bombing.

“This incident confirms once again that terrorist organizations possess stocks of chemical weapons and have a possibility to get, store and use them thanks to the assistance of well-known regional states,” the document says.

The Syrian army command came up with a statement on April 4, blaming terrorist gangs for the use of poisonous gases in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in the Idlib province. The statement stressed that “the Syrian army does not possess chemical munitions and all the accusations against it on this score were fabricated.”

On order of US President Donald Trump, the US military fired Tomahawk missiles overnight to April 7 on an airfield in the Syrian province of Homs, from which, as Washington believed, aircraft had taken off to deliver a strike on Khan Sheikhoun.