Russian Federation pushes for United Nations probe into chemical attack

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The polarised positions were evident at the UN Security Council on Wednesday, when Russian Federation vetoed a Western-drafted resolution that would have required Syrian cooperation in an investigation into the suspected chemical attack.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says Syria's military gave up all its chemical weapons in 2013 after an agreement made at the time.

Samples taken from Khan Sheikhoun last week also tested positive for the nerve agent sarin, the British delegation at the global chemical weapons watchdog OPCW said on Thursday.

The US has said its strike on a Syrian air force base was in response the Syrian government, which it blamed for launching a deadly chemical attack in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province that killed at least 87 people. He said that the intercept was part of a review of US intelligence following the assault to confirm responsibility for the use of chemical weapons.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who hosted his Iranian and Syrian counterparts at a trilateral meeting in Moscow, denounced last week's us attack on Syria as a "flagrant violation" of worldwide law and warned that any further such action would entail "grave consequences not only for regional but global security".

Russian Federation says rebels were responsible for whatever chemical agent was used, which the Trump administration calls a disinformation campaign.

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Their request is unlikely to be approved by European lawmakers before the two-round presidential election. "It is not France", Le Pen said.

The embattled leader, whose country has been ravaged by six years of war, said his firepower had not been affected by the attack ordered by US President Donald Trump, but acknowledged further strikes were possible.

He then informed Jinping that the strikes had been launched, to which the latter said - via an interpreter - that "it's OK to respond with force", when anybody uses chemical weapons against civilians.

The three ministers also discussed the beefing up of US forces on Jordan's border with Syria.

Neither Syria nor Russian Federation used their air defense assets to try to fend off last week's USA attack on the Shayrat air base, which Washington said had served as a platform for the chemical attack. "Our firepower, our ability to attack the terrorists hasn't been affected by this strike". He said working groups would be established to improve U.S.

On Thursday, Moscow hosted Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem for talks with Lavrov, ahead of a three-way meeting Friday with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif of Iran, another Assad ally.

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