Qatar has voiced its concern regarding the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Syrian city of Aleppo.
In a statement issued yesterday, the Foreign Ministry said “the siege and the taking of innocent lives is unacceptable to human morals, principles and international law”, stressing “the condemnation and disapproval of what the Syrian regime is doing against hundreds of thousands of civilians, particularly women and children”.
The Foreign Ministry called on the international society to shoulder its responsibilities in order to protect the Syrian people and ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to Aleppo and all besieged cities.
The statement reiterated the importance of reaching a political solution for the conflict in Syria in line with Geneva I and Security Council Resolution 2254 to end the worsening humanitarian tragedy of the Syrian people.
The statement noted that the crimes of the Syrian regime, its violation of the basic human rights and the suffering of the Syrian people in terms of the siege, destruction and displacement, were major causes for feeding terrorism and extremism, which threatened security and stability in the region and the world. It stressed that the eradication of terrorism would only be achieved by eliminating its causes.
Meanwhile, a  Syrian rescue service operating in rebel-held territory has said a helicopter had dropped containers of toxic gas overnight on a town close to where a Russian military helicopter had been shot down hours earlier, adds the Reuters news agency.
The opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC) accused President Bashar al-Assad of being behind the attack.
A spokesman for the Syria Civil Defence said 33 people, mostly women and children, were affected by the gas, which they suspect was chlorine, in Saraqeb, in rebel-held Idlib province.
The group, which describes itself as a neutral band of search and rescue volunteers, posted a video on YouTube apparently showing a number of men struggling to breathe and being given oxygen masks by people in civil defence uniforms.
“Medium-sized barrels fell containing toxic gases. The Syrian Civil Defence was not able to determine the type of the gas,” said the spokesman.
The SNC said of the reported use of poison gas in Saraqeb: “After shelling, besieging and killing civilians and perpetrating war crimes on them, the Assad regime has resorted once again, and in breach of UN resolutions 2118 and 2235, to using chemical substances and toxic gases.
“The daily reality confirms that all the international agreements and previous Security Council decisions, be they about chemical weapons or otherwise, are meaningless for the Assad regime.”
The Civil Defence spokesman said it was the second time Saraqeb had been hit by toxic gas.