Asaad Mustafa, interim defense minister, said that Iranian experts developed bombs loaded with toxic gases to be used a substitute for the barrel bombs in Kafr Susah Security Institute.” Mustafa also said that these bombs had already been used in seven sites across Syria. He confirmed that the Assad regime used poison gas over the past two days in Jobar and Rankous, leaving dead and injured and causing dozens of cases of suffocation.” The Assad regime also launched a second attack on Kafr Zeita in Hama province, using diluted chlorine. It also used chemical weapons for the first time in Khan Sheikhoun and Harasta. “The regime’s escalation of the use of toxic gases comes as retaliation to rebels’ advances in Aleppo, Idlib and Hama. Mustafa refuted the regime’s accusation of the rebels that they impeded the transfer of chemical weapons to the Syrian ports as a prelude to their destruction, stressing that “the passage of convoys through rebel-held areas is completely safe.” (Source: Al Arabiya + Syrian Coalition)