The U.S.-led coalition fighting against Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria has rejected a claim by the Syrian army that a coalition air strike hit poison gas supplies and killed hundreds of people.
A Syrian army statement shown on Syrian state TV on April 13 said that a strike late on April 12 in the eastern Deir al-Zor Province hit supplies belonging to IS, releasing a toxic substance that killed "hundreds including many civilians."
"The Syrian claim is incorrect and likely intentional misinformation," U.S. Air Force Colonel John Dorrian, a spokesman for the coalition, said in a statement. He said the coalition had carried out no air strikes in that area at that time.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on April 13 that it had no information on fatalities in a coalition air strike in Deir al-Zor and was sending drones to the area to monitor the situation.
The claim comes after more than 80 people were killed in Syria's northwestern Idlib Province on April 4 in what the United States and other governments say was a poison gas attack carried out by President Bashar al-Assad's government.
The United States responded on April 7 by firing dozens of missiles at the air base where it says the attack originated.
The Syrian government and Russia, its ally, have said they believe the gas was released when Syrian government air strikes hit a rebel chemical weapons facility.
Russia says and its ally Russia deny Damascus carried out any such chemical attack. Moscow has said the poison gas in that incident last week in Idlib Province belonged to rebels.
