By Levant Tok, Adham and Mohamad Misto
IDLIB, Syria
Civilians in Syria's northern town of Khan have fled their homes to safer places in the wake of Tuesday's chemical attack, in which more than 100 people were killed.
Many terrified families have reportedly moved from the area to nearby towns and villages in the opposition-held Idlib province, according to Anadolu Agency reporters in the area.
Scores of families have already arrived at Atme camp, 70 kilometers (43 miles) away from Khan on with Turkey.
"The people of Khan are in great fear," Mohammad Abu Zayd, a spokesman for opposition Ahrar al-Sham group, told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.
"Families left their homes fearing that this attack might happen again," he said. "They are moving to places they believe are safer on border. That's a new version of deportation."
More than 100 people were killed and 500 others injured in a chemical attack in Khan town on Tuesday.
While the opposition says a regime aircraft carried out the attack, the regime and allied Russia claim the strike targeted an opposition depot producing mines filled with a poisonous substance.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the victims of Tuesday’s chemical attack in Idlib show symptoms of nerve agent damage.
Syrian regime forces are believed to have launched gas attacks on opposition-held areas in recent weeks.
On March 30, 35 civilians were affected by a chlorine gas attack carried out by regime forces in Al-Qaboun near Damascus.
Last year, a UN-appointed investigation panel found that chemical weapons were used by regime forces and opposition fighters in 2014 and 2015. However, no actionable steps were taken.
Since March 2011, the Syrian opposition has demanded an end to more than 44 years of Assad family’s rule and the establishment of a democratic state.
The Syrian regime responded to the protests with military force, pushing the country into a vicious downward spiral of violence, bloody battles and a civil war that is still ongoing between the regime and opposition forces.
Since then, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to the UN.
The Syrian Center for Policy Research, however, puts the death toll from the six-year conflict at more than 470,000 people.
*Ali Murat contributed to this report from Ankara
