Friday, August 30, 2013

Syria: Napalm-Like Burns After School Attack

Shocking video emerges after an apparent fire-bomb attack leaves students with injuries that may have been caused by Napalm.

12:30pm UK, Friday 30 August 2013 -- Sky News

Video: Awful Burns After School Bombing

People suffering from Napalm-like burns have been speaking of an attack in which a plane apparently dropped an incendiary bomb on students in Syria.

Video said to be from the town of Urum al Kubra, close to Aleppo, shows a man reported to be a school teacher, who says the students were attacked as they tried to escape from an attack nearby.
"The plane hit a residential area in Urum al Kubra," he explains.

"We tried to get out quickly so we don't get hurt, but it seems someone's fate caught up with them today.

"A gathering of students formed, which is normal as the students needed to leave under these circumstances, and the plane hit us."

'Teacher' after atatck — The injuries were like those caused by Napalm, according to doctors

The video, posted on the internet, is said to have come from an account associated with a rebel group in Aleppo.

In another video filmed in the aftermath of the attack, a doctor reports seven deaths and 50 injuries - and says the burns resembled Napalm injuries.
However, the use of the substance has not been confirmed.

A BBC television crew who witnessed the bombing reported no shrapnel injuries and said the victims resembled "the walking dead".

Napalm is not classified as an outlawed chemical weapon although it can cause devastating burn injuries.

U.N. chemical weapons experts wearing gas masks carry samples collected from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack while escorted by Free Syrian Army fighters in the Ain Tarma neighbourhood of Damascus — UN chemical weapons inspectors will end their Syria mission by the weekend

Infamously used in the Vietnam War - as well as the Second World War - the jelly-like substance sticks to skin and burns at very high temperatures.

A United Nations convention prohibits using incendiary weapons against civilians, or against military targets located near civilian populations.

The pictures of the school attack emerged after MPs voted against military action over alleged chemical weapons gas attacks by the Syrian regime.

Some have described the outcome as a "humiliation" for the government and means the US may have to go ahead alone with any military strikes.

Speaking to Sky News, former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown said the vote had left him "ashamed" and said it was vital to act to stop attacks on innocent civilians.

300813 SUNRISE SYRIA LORD PADDY ASHDOWN — The UK is "shrugging its shoulders" at the attack, says Paddy Ashdown

"In more than 50 years of trying to serve my country in one form or another, I don't think I have ever felt more depressed this morning or more ashamed.

"I now am condemned to watch those children burn in that schoolhouse yesterday and be a country that shrugs its shoulders and says 'nothing to do with me'."

Labels: Britain, Chemical Weapons, Conflict, Intervention, Syria