Interesting. This is the first mention I have seen of first aid workers and medical personnel being afflicted, which would be consistent with use of CW-agent. The photos previously published have shown medical workers and other civilians handling the dead or injured without any protection, and apparently without any ill-effects.
When I did my military service we were taught how to clean personnel and equipment suspected of CW contamination. Even in our northern climate just the threat of CW-use constituted a major thermal load on the personnel due to the protective equipment.
Exactly how dangerous weapons grade chemical agents are was borne home to me when I met and talked to a British scientist who had been investigating the use of CW in Angola during the 80s. (Yes, the Cubans used chemical warfare against South Africa and her allies. It was never made public because the SA authorities didn't want to upset the home front.) Once she had been in a medical tent close to the front taking samples from an exposed soldier who was being treated with atropine drip. She had had to remove one glove to be able to carry out the procedure. The soldier coughed, and a minute drop of saliva hit her on the exposed skin of the hand - minutes later she had been in the bed next to the soldier also with atropine drip.
That's how potent weapons grade CW agents are.
My guess is that the people killed or injured in Damascus have been exposed to an industrial grade toxic agent. But we will see what results the UN team will come up with.
This is a combination Benghazi/TM ping.
There are pictures of the tunnels under the area where this happened. Some of them were contaminated and some held weapons and gas masks. It was not in assad’s best interest to do this. I have yet to hear that people were awakened by a rocket attack. The way it seems to have gone down was by stealth in the middle of the night, That sounds more like cannisyers were employed at low level attacking people in their sleep. How hard would it have been to distribute cannisters, pop them open, spray, then remove the cannisters when they were empty?