Syrian forces bomb area of alleged chemical attack

President Bashar Assad's forces pressed on with a military offensive in eastern Damascus today, bombing rebel-held suburbs where the opposition said a chemical weapons attack the day before killed over 100 people.

The government has denied allegations it used chemical weapons in artillery barrages on the area known as eastern Ghouta yesterday as "absolutely baseless." The United States, Britain and France have demanded that a team of UN experts already in Syria be granted immediate access to investigate the site.

Syrian opposition figures and activists have reported widely varying death tolls from yesterday's attack, from 136 to as high as 1,300. But even the most conservative tally would make it the deadliest alleged chemical attack in Syria's civil war.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had no word on casualties in the Thursday morning bombing of eastern Ghouta. It said Syrian warplanes conducted several air raids on eastern and western suburbs of Damascus, including three that took place within five minutes.

Yesterday's alleged chemical weapons attack left scores of children dead, their lifeless bodies appearing in amateur videos wrapped in white cloths, their pale skin unmarked by any wounds.

UNICEF said in a statement that the reports of attacks on civilians, presumably including children, were "deeply disturbing."

"Such horrific acts should be a reminder to all the parties and all who have influence on them that this terrible conflict has gone on far too long and children have suffered more than enough," UNICEF said. "Children must be protected, and those who fail to protect them will be held accountable.