Syria 'chemical attack': Russia says there is 'no evidence' for strike as US refuses to rule out military action

Martin Coulter9 April 2018

Russian officials said there was "no evidence" of a chemical attack in Syria as the US refused to "rule anything out" in its response.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov insisted there was no evidence of a chemical attack in the area despite contrary reportes from local medics.

Defence secretary Jim Mattis attacked Russia for failing to ensure the Syrian state abandoned its chemical weapons programme.

President Donald Trump warned on Sunday there would be a "big price to pay" after aid groups said dozens of people were killed by poison gas in a besieged rebel-held town in Syria, an attack the opposition blamed on Syrian government forces.

Mr Trump said there will be a "big price to pay" after what he called a "mindless chemical attack" (Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images

Speaking before a meeting with Qatar's Emir, Mr Mattis said: "The first thing we have to look at is why are chemical weapons still being used at all when Russia was the framework guarantor of removing all the chemical weapons.

"And so, working with our allies and our partners from NATO to Qatar and elsewhere, we are going to address this issue."

Mattis had been asked if the US was capable of striking President Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons facilities.

When asked if he could rule out taking actions, like launching airstrikes against Assad, Mattis said: "I don't rule out anything right now."

The Syrian government denied its forces had launched any chemical assault, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said such allegations were false and a provocation.

U.S. government sources said Washington's assessment was that chemical weapons were used in a besieged rebel-held town in Syria, but they are still evaluating details.

Assad is believed to have secretly kept part of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile despite a US-Russian deal under which Damascus was supposed to have handed over all such weapons for destruction in 2014, officials have said in recent months

A deadly sarin attack on a rebel-held area prompted Trump to order a missile strike last year on the Shayrat air base.

Additional reporting by the Press Association

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