Last week, the internet was flooded with reports about chemical weapons being used near the capital Damascus in the Goutha region. Be warned, what you're about to see is both graphic and heartbreaking (via Truth Loader):



Details about the alleged attack remain unclear, but footage captured at the site indicates that the nerve agent Sarin might have been used. This would make sense since the Syrian govt has stockpiles of that particular chemical.

Over at Puff the Mutant Dragon, they explain the horrors of what it's like to be poisoned by this nerve agent:
Your brain loses the ability to control your muscles, including the muscles in your diaphragm that enable you to breathe, so you go into convulsions (your muscles contracting uncontrollably), drool, lose control of your bladder, your chest tightens up, you stop breathing and eventually die from respiratory failure. It’s not an easy way to die. Whoever decided to fire this at civilians is one sick puppy, no two ways about it.
Siran was accidentally invented by German chemist who was trying to come up with a powerful new pesticide. One day, he came up with something that smelled vaguely like apples, took a whiff and nearly killed himself. Rumors about this new compound got round to the German government and piqued Hitler's interest.

For a further scientific explanation that explains the danger of this deadly gas, read the full post here