UN probes new Syria gas attack

The UN yesterday said it was investigating evidence of a toxic gas attack on a rebel-held area of the Syrian city of Aleppo which killed 4 people including a mother and her 3 children.

The UN special envoy for Syria said a chlorine attack, if confirmed, would amount to a "war crime".

Footage obtained by the BBC shows people with breathing difficulties receiving treatment at a hospital. Men, women and children are shown being fitted with oxygen masks by medical staff.

The gas is thought to have been chlorine dropped in a barrel bomb, said the Syrian Civil Defence - volunteer emergency response workers who operate in opposition-held areas.

A man receiving treatment in hospital said he had been in the Zebdieh area of the city, where he lives, when two missiles landed near him and a group of friends.

Fighting has escalated in Aleppo in recent days, with rebels severing the government's main route to the west of the city.

The offensive sought to break a siege by pro-government forces, who encircled the east in July with the support of Russian aircraft.

Russia has announced a daily halt to hostilities between 10:00 (07:00 GMT) and 13:00 from yesterday, to allow in aid.

But rebels and regime forces clashed in southern Aleppo yesterday, including during the period when the pause was meant to take hold, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Syrian's state news agency said army troops seized territory south of Aleppo yesterday, adding that rebel fire killed four civilians in a government-held district.

Russia also carried out raids further east on the Islamic State group bastion of Raqa that a monitor said killed 24 civilians and wounding 70 more.

Moscow was meanwhile offered the possibility of joint operations against IS by Turkey, which has backed rebel groups against President Bashar al-Assad.

The offer came one day after crucial talks between President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan aimed at ending a crisis in ties.

The United Nations said Russia was considering expanding three-hour pauses in fighting every morning to bring in desperately-needed aid.

"Any pause obviously should always be seen and looked at with great interest, because a pause means no fighting, but three hours is not enough," said UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura.

A senior Russian senator yesterday said Moscow was planning to expand its Hmeimim airbase on Syria's coast into a permanent facility.

"After its legal status is agreed upon, Hmeimim will become a Russian military base. The appropriate infrastructure will be built and our servicemen will live in worthy conditions," Frants Klintsevich, the deputy head of Russia's senate committee for defence, told Izvestia newspaper.

Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011 and has since killed more than 290,000 people and drawn in world powers on all sides of the war.