Special to WorldTribune.com

ABU DHABI — For the first time, Syrians have asserted that President
Bashar Assad was using gas bombs in attacks on Sunni rebels.

The Syrian opposition said Assad forces bombed several Sunni cities with
shells that contained an unknown chemical agent.

The opposition said Sunni civilians suffocated or underwent nausea from the shelling.

“We do not have the tools to know what this is, but we know there has
never been such an incident before,” an opposition source said.

The opposition said the Syria Air Force employed combat aircraft to drop the suspected chemical bombs in Dera, Idlib and Hama on June 7. The three cities have been regarded as the strongholds of the Sunni revolt against Assad.

The report of a suspected chemical bomb has not been confirmed by other sources. The Sunni opposition has long urged the international community to intervene militarily in Syria.

The sources said the Air Force was being increasingly employed amid the spike in rebel attacks throughout Syria. They said the Air Force was using a
range of fixed- and rotary-wing assets, including the MiG-29 fighter-jet and
the Mi-24 attack helicopter. On June 9, at least 43 people were said to have
been killed in air strikes.

For their part, the rebels have been targeting Syrian Army main battle
tanks and armored personnel carriers. The sources said at least 20 MBTs and
APCs were destroyed so far in June.

  Bashar Assad, Dera, Homs, Idlib, MiG-29 fighter-jets and Mi-24 attack helicopters, Sunni revolt, Syrian Air Force, Syrian opposition reports Assad regime using gas bombs against Sunnis