Pro-regime media figure boasts about Douma strike, hints at chemical attack

A prominent pro-regime media figure boasted about the Assad army's attack on opposition-held eastern Ghouta suburbs, hinting at a chlorine gas attack hours before the event took place.

Reporting live from a regime-held territory near eastern Ghouta's Douma neighborhood, the director of the Syrian office of the Iranian Al-Alam television channel, Hosein Murtada posted a video on Twitter on Saturday afternoon and said the attacks were "only appetizers."

#حسين _مرتضى
مشاهد من مشارف دوما ورسالة صباحية خفيفة
وسير المعارك pic.twitter.com/BCC3I0DecV

— #حسين_مرتضى (@HoseinMortada) April 7, 2018

Murtada said Douma would be targeted with something bigger than a ground operation and "what they will see today has never been expected."

Hours later, White Helmets, who act as first responders in opposition-held areas of Syria, said the attack took place using "poisonous chlorine gas."

The alleged chemical attack that killed more than 70 civilians in Douma sparked international outrage Sunday, with U.S. President Donald Trump warning there would be a "big price to pay."

Douma is the last remaining opposition-held town in Ghouta, once the opposition group's main bastion outside Damascus but now ravaged by a seven-week regime assault.