50,000 people to leave Douma in return for release of 200 hostages: Negotiation source

More than 50,000 people, including insurgents and their families, are set to leave Syria's Douma. (AFP)

• Suspected chemical attacks killed at least 60 people, wounded more than 1,000
• UN Security Council meeting called on Monday to discuss international response

DOUMA: More than 50,000 people, including insurgents and their families, are set to leave Syria's Douma in the coming days under a deal for the town, a source involved the negotiations told Reuters on Monday.
In return, the rebel faction in Douma will release 200 people it has held hostage there, the source said.
The US State Department said on Monday the symptoms of victims in a suspected chemical gas attack in Douma, Syria, were consistent with those caused by an asphyxiation or nerve agent and it called on Syria and Russia to open the area to international monitors.
"The chemical weapons attack took place in an area of Syrian regime operations, Duma, where regime forces are attempting to dislodge the opposition. Syrian regime forces and their allies are denying international monitors access to the Duma area," the State Department told Reuters, using an alternative spelling for the city.
"The Duma victims' symptoms, reported by credible medical professionals and visible in social media photos and video, are consistent with an asphyxiation agent and of a nerve agent of some type," it said.