DAMASCUS, November 25. /TASS/. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, a terrorist group outlawed in Russia) militants used improvised 120mm chemical mines to shell the Syrian city of Aleppo, Konstantin Potemkin, a spokesman for Russia’s nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) protection troops, said on Sunday.

"Primary analysis of munitions fragments makes it possible to say that terrorists used improvised 120mm mines that had been stuffed with toxic agents in an improvised manner," he said.

On Saturday evening, Aleppo’s dwelling quarters came under shelling by militants from the Idlib de-escalation zone who used shells stuffed with a toxic substance, presumably, chlorine. According to Syrian medics, more than 70 people were hospitalized after the attack. SANA news agency put the number of those hospitalized at 107. Terrorists were subsequently destroyed by Russian warplanes.

Сhemical contamination

Specialists of NBC protection troops have confirmed the fact of chemical contamination of Aleppo’s quarters.

On Saturday evening, Aleppo’s dwelling quarters came under shelling by militants from the Idlib de-escalation zone who used shells stuffed with a toxic substance, presumably, chlorine. According to Syrian medics, more than 70 people were hospitalized after the attack. SANA news agency put the number of those hospitalized at 107. Terrorists were subsequently destroyed by Russian warplanes.

"Thanks to the use of gas sensors, NBC protection troops specialists have confirmed that the area is contaminated with chemical substance," he said.

According to Potemkin, the composition of the toxic agents used in Aleppo will be identified by experts. "We took samples of the soil, fragments of buildings and pieces of shells to be further studied at the laboratory at the Hmeymim airbase. It will make it possible to identify the toxic agent," he added.

Monitoring of Aleppo

Russian specialists are also monitoring the situation in Aleppo’s dwelling quarters following chemical attack.

On Saturday evening, Aleppo’s dwelling quarters came under shelling by militants from the Idlib de-escalation zone who used shells stuffed with a toxic substance, presumably, chlorine. According to Syrian medics, more than 70 people were hospitalized after the attack. SANA news agency put the number of those hospitalized at 107. Terrorists were subsequently destroyed by Russian warplanes.

"Within several hours after the attack by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, a terrorist group outlawed in Russia) militants who used munitions stuffed with toxic agents in Syria’s Aleppo, Russian transport aviation airlifted a mobile diagnostic group from the chemical laboratory system at the Hmeymim airbase. Currently, a special radiation, chemical and biological reconnaissance system is deployed in Aleppo’s dwelling quarters to monitor the chemical situation," Potemkin said.

He said that the work of Russian NBC protection specialists will help promptly expose contamination of the area in case terrorists use toxic agents again. "It will make it possible to avoid casualties among civilians," he said.

According to Potemkin, Russian servicemen have repeatedly reported that the White Helmets organization was delivering toxic agents to the Idlib de-escalation zone to stage provocations in order to subsequently accuse Syrian government troops of the use of chemical weapons against civilians.