Fighting rages for Syria town in chemical weapons row

Syrian troops attacked rebel positions outside Khan al-Assal on Wednesday as they seek to recapture the northern town at the centre of rival chemical weapons accusations, a watchdog said. Fierce fighting erupted on the outskirts of the town, which the rebels seized on Monday of last week inflicting heavy losses on the army, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The army lost 150 soldiers over two days, 50 of them summarily executed after their capture in an act condemned by the mainstream opposition leadership. The government has been keen to recapture the town, the last to fall out of its control in the western half of Aleppo province. The town was the scene of what both the government and the opposition say was a chemical weapons attack that killed 30 people on March 19. The Syrian government says the rebels carried it out, and its ally Moscow says it has concrete proof. The opposition says President Bashar al-Assad's regime was behind it and Washington has said it has seen no firm evidence of rebel responsibility. The Damascus government has pressed for Khan al-Assal to be the primary focus of a planned UN inquiry into a total of 13 allegations of chemical weapons use during the 28-month conflict. The rebels' capture of the town last week came as two UN envoys visited Damascus to thrash out the ground rules for UN weapons inspectors. They came away with an agreement but UN chief Ban Ki-moon has said he is still reviewing the details. The army also bombarded several rebel-held neighbourhoods of Aleppo city before dawn on Wednesday, the Observatory said. Several children were wounded when a shell hit a field hospital in the Maysara neighbourhood. Pro-government newspaper Al-Watan quoted a senior official it did not identify as saying that troop reinforcements would arrive in Aleppo soon to boost the army's hand against the rebels. "Aleppo is still the number one priority for Syrian leaders," the paper cited the official as saying. "The resistance being put up by the city will disappoint those who are counting on it falling into the clutches of international terrorism." The Syrian government consistently refers to all rebel forces as "terrorists" and makes no distinction between jihadists groups blacklisted by Washington and mainstream groups that have Western and Arab backing. "The strategic successes of the army in Homs and in the eastern suburbs (of the capital) mean it is more determined than ever to carry out its duties in Aleppo," Al-Watan said. On Monday, the army recaptured the Khaldiyeh neighbourhood of Homs in its biggest gain so far in a month-old offensive against the remaining rebel-held districts of the strategic central city. The city's oil refinery came under fire on Wednesday for the second time in a week, the Observatory said. Several of the refinery's staff were wounded by "terrorist rocket fire," the state SANA news agency. As UN efforts to convene a Russian- and US-backed peace conference have faltered, government forces have launched counter-offensives in the centre and north, as well as around the capital. The opposition has vowed to step up efforts to capture the remaining government-held districts of second city Aleppo.