SYRIAN Kurdish militia accused Western-backed insurgents of using white phosphorus chemical weapons in attacks on residential areas.

People’s Protection Units (YPG) spokesman Redur Xelil said late on Tuesday that the coalition of rebel factions occupying the eastern half of Aleppo had fired rockets into the YPG-controlled suburb of Sheikh Maqsood that afternoon.

He said that the rockets carried a yellow material believed to be white phosphorus, weapons-grade quantities of which typically have a yellow hue.

Russia Today’s Lizzie Phelan quoted Kurdish sources as saying that several YPG guerillas had been taken to hospital complaining of skin irritation following the attack.

Among the 10 groups in the Aleppo coalition is the powerful Islamist Ahrar al-Sham, one of the two largest forces in the Saudi-convened High Negotiations Committee (HNC) umbrella group along with the Army of Islam.

Mr Xelil made the allegation in a statement addressed to foreign observers of the Russian-US brokered “cessation of hostilities” between President Bashar al-Assad’s government and its allies and the HNC.

He said the shelling began at 3pm local time and was continuing even as he wrote his report.

Mr Xelil posted a video online showing a yellow cloud rising and drifting from a hillside near residential areas.

White phosphorus weapons have horrific effects. The chemical burns at an extreme temperature and sticks to human skin, causing deep third-degree burns.

Phosphorus smoke irritates and burns the eyes, respiratory tract and even skin in a similar way to the chemical weapon mustard gas.

Russian ceasefire monitors at Khmeimim airbase in western Latakia province reported seven breaches of the truce on Tuesday, all by insurgents.

Four incidents were reported in Aleppo province, including the shelling of Sheikh Maqsood.

Two breaches were alleged in neighbouring Idlib, including shelling of the besieged government-held towns of Foua’a and Kefraya and one in Latakia.

The YPG has been fighting to expand its pocket in Sheik Maqsood in recent weeks, threatening to cut off the rebels’ narrow supply corridor from Idlib — and access to the mountainous border with Turkey — and surround rebel forces in east Aleppo.