18/05/2013 Reporters

the world newsroom, we send our correspondence to bring you the best

stories from across the globe. In this week's programme. The new

allegations that chemical weapons are being used in Syria. The BBC is

the first Western channel to reach the site of an alleged attack near

by. Using video taken on the day and eyewitness testimony be tightly

paced that piece together what happened. Filming started right here

as the artillery shells landed, just on the other side of the building.

deadly game of hide and seek. We join an Afghan operation against the

Taliban are close to the Pakistani border. It's a crucial factor in the

West's torture debate over whether to intervene in the conflict in

Syria. Our chemical weapons being used by the government or its

opponents? Both Britain and America have spoken of growing evidence the

Syrian authorities are using them. Now the BBC has been shown evidence

of an alleged chemical attack involving government forces that

took place last month. Similar accusations have also been made

against rebel fighters and both sides deny it. There are tough calls

for new action against President Assad. We sent the first Western

journalists into the town with the alleged attack took place. This is

their exclusive report and some images in their report could be

distressing. The war in Syria hangs heavy with tales of appalling

violence, of massacres and abuse. But for Britain and America, its

alleged chemical attacks that cross the red line and raise the spectre

of foreign intervention. On the 29th of April, it came under attack from

government military positions about five miles in that direction. Using

eyewitness testimony and video taken on the day, we tried to piece

together what happened. The filming started right here from this vantage

point. As the artillery shells landed just on the other side of the

building. It's a day that ended with what is claimed to be a chemical

weapons attack. A local activist gave us this footage. He says it was

taken as the shells landed. We can't verify these images but all the

videos you're going to see were apparently taken on the same day by

different people. And helicopter was spotted high above the time.

Eyewitnesses allege at least two canisters were dropped from it. They

say it was shortly after they landed that casualties started to arrive at

the hospital. Eight people were admitted, apparently with similar

breathing problems. The worst affected was this woman. A device

landed in her garden. Videos appeared to show her unconscious

with constricted pupils. Doctors who treated her claim she had signs of

exposure to chemical agents. She died later that day. Her daughter

was filmed nearby. The video appears to show her tongue distended. She is

frothing at the mouth. Her sons were also on the scene and say they had

to be treated, game they apparently suffered respiratory and vision

problems and appeared to have constricted pupils. Muhammad is the

eldest son. He says he tried to help his mother but she collapsed in his

TRANSLATION: It was a horrible suffocating smell. You couldn't

breathe at all. My body would become really tired. I would lose all

senses and feel like I was dead. I couldn't even see anything for three

or four days. We were taken to the house of one of her nephews. He

showed us where the device was said to have landed. Samples have been

taken from here and from the victims and sent to Britain, France, Turkey

and America for testing. Later in the day, four patients were brought

here to a hospital near the border. This doctor treated them. They were

put through decontamination and given drugs to treat their symptoms

but it was too late for this woman. TRANSLATION: The symptoms she

displayed, unconsciousness, vomiting, they correspond to poison

gas exposure and often much poisoning. It has many derivatives,

one of which is gas. We have our doubts but we can't be sure until we

analyse it. Her house is abandoned, the family too afraid to return. A

British chemical expert has looked at the material and what happened

here. He says there is strong evidence a nerve agent was used. But

it doesn't show who was responsible. In cramped makeshift camps that

shelter Syria's homeless families, the real issue is not how people

were killed, it's a death itself. The inexorable tide of violence. The

destruction of their country. And what they see as the indifference of

From the conflict in Syria to Afghanistan now where Afghan

security forces are preparing to take full control of the country.

Foreign troops will remain in support roles after the handover is

completed next year, but the local forces are they up to the task? We

have been out with Afghan troops on an operation against the Taliban

close to the Pakistani border. Under attack from the Taliban, Afghan

soldiers respond with all they have. The Arsenal they now have includes

heavy artillery that they can fire accurately from several miles away

for the first time. And close range mortars. And, for the first time,

Afghan officers are leading the fight with international advisers

staying in the background. Although, at the height of this battle, US

advice came with a hard edge as the Americans fired their weapons. At

dawn the following morning, Afghan soldiers set out into the hills.

Rather than waiting in their most forward bases in the mountains, the

Afghan army are going forward hoping to attract fire from the Taliban so

they can find out where they are. It is a deadly game of hide and seek in

the high peaks on the frontier with Pakistan. And, for the first time,

the Afghan army are trained to plot the ground accurately, coordinating

by radio. The wider war is far better planned and controlled than

it was. We were given exclusive access to the battle update briefing

for the Thunder Corps, running the war across much of eastern

Afghanistan. Behind the advance of the army, there are other layers of

security. Checkpoints which are manned by Afghan border police.

Their commander spent several years in London seeking asylum during the

Taliban years, and now he's fighting them on the frontier. We are already

strong. We reinforce the border. I'm sure that the Taliban can't do

anything. Why should it be different now? They fought successfully

before. What is different? I think today security forces are stronger

because we have coordinated well. There is another layer of security,

local militias have been given uniforms to defend their villages.

They are taking significant casualties. One commander in a tough

area says, when the Americans left, people were left defenceless. The

general says is vital to support them.

TRANSLATION: The police are the only defensive line on the border. They

need support from the Army and we fight shoulder to shoulder. To widen

the security zone, we are destroying the enemy 's bases. And we have

meetings with the people to tell them to send their children to

school. Back in the mountains, Afghan troops search houses in a

remote village taking down Caliban flags. That Caliban. He says the

Army now controls these mountains. This army can celebrate more

victories on the battlefield than it could before. It faces formidable

challenges, infiltration from across the border in Pakistan close by, but

also the opus of these regions from car bowl and the failure of the

central government to provide basic services.

TRANSLATION: After 30 years of war, we need reconstruction, clinics,

schools and roads but we will have nothing without security.