Syria conflict: Government helicopters 'drop chlorine' on Aleppo

Syrian government forces have been accused of dropping barrel bombs containing chlorine from helicopters on a suburb of Aleppo, injuring 80 people.

Volunteer emergency workers say people suffered breathing difficulties after an attack on the Sukari area.

The reports could not be independently verified. AUN-led investigation in August found the government had used chlorine on at least two occasions.

The Syrian government has always denied using chemical weapons.

Ibrahem Alhaj, a Syrian Civil Defence rescue worker, said he had reached the scene of the attack shortly after a helicopter dropped barrels containing what he said were four chlorine cylinders.

Syrian Civil Defence - a volunteer emergency response team that operates in opposition-held areas - accused the government of another chlorine attack in August.

The UN said on Tuesday that a brief period of relief early this year for civilians caught up in the war in Syria had been replaced by an even more brutal resumption in fighting.

In its 12th report on Syria, it said the cessation of hostilities in February had allowed some towns to receive their first aid in years but it only lasted a few weeks.

The report says 600,000 Syrians now live under siege with a further 300,000 trapped in the city of Aleppo.

On Sunday, Syrian government forces were reported to have recaptured parts of Aleppo city which were lost to rebels last month, placing rebel-held districts in the city's east once again under siege.

Monitors said government troops had recaptured two military academy sites in the the Ramouseh district south of the city and severed a recently established rebel supply line.