Islamic State accused of using chemical weapons in Syria

But unlike chorine, which has a half-life of a few minutes, mustard gas is a persistent agent, Hamish de Bretton Gordon, a chemical and biological weapons expert told The Daily Star, meaning that it can remain in the buildings and in the ground for months or even years.

The Syrian American Medical Society says that 50 shells fell on civilian areas north of Aleppo in Marea last Friday.

“Initial symptoms included respiratory irritation, wheezing, coughing, irritation and redness of the eyes and mucous membranes, skin irritation, and severe itching”, a news release from SAMS said.

The Daesh militants have been carrying out horrific acts of violence such as public decapitations and crucifixions against all communities, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, and Christians in areas they have overrun.

Dozens of victims of mortar attack exhibited symptoms of chemical exposure, a medical group reports.

Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) confirmed that four people from the same family were treated, including a five-day-old girl and her three-year-old sister.

SAMS said roughly 30 civilians developed skin blisters, with doctors identifying the agent to be mustard gas.

The patients said that a mortar shell hit their home at about 7.30pm on Friday (21 August).

“MSF has no laboratory evidence to confirm the cause of these symptoms”, said programme manager Pablo Marco in a statement. “

However, the patients’ clinical symptoms, the way these symptoms changed over time, and the patients’ testimony about the circumstances of the poisoning all point to exposure to a chemical agent.”

Mustard gas is an asphyxiant that has been banned in war by the UN since 1993.

An Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighter prepares an ammunition belt as he guards a position at the frontline of fighting against the Islamic State group’s militants near the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar, west of the city of Mosul on August 17, 2015.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group is suspected of having used mustard gas against civilians in Syria’s northern Aleppo province.

In Syria, the jihadist group has fiercely attacked anti-government forces in Marea in an effort to cut off a supply route into the country from Turkey.