Deadly strikes hit airbase in Syria

Syria and Russia yesterday accused Israel of carrying out a deadly bombing raid on a Syrian military airport, as calls grew for international action over an alleged chemical attack on a rebel held-town.

Syrian state news agency SANA said Israeli F-15 aircraft had fired several missiles at the base from Lebanese territory.

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Russia's army said a pair of Israeli F-15s had fired eight missiles at the base. Five were destroyed by air defence systems but three hit a western part of the facility, it said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the raid a "very dangerous development".

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the country's conflict, said 14 fighters were killed, including Syrian army officers and Iranian forces.

Forces from regime backers Russia and Iran, as well as fighters from the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, are known to have a presence at T-4, said Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman.

Both Washington and Paris denied carrying out yesterday's raid.

Israel has previously targeted Iranian units in Syria, but declined to comment on the latest strike.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump promised quick action in response to the "barbaric" suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria and made clear that all options including military action were on the table.

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting yesterday, Trump said he was meeting with military and other advisers and a decision would be made within 48 hours and might come as soon as the end of the day.

"Nothing is off the table," he said when asked if US military action was a possibility.

The suspected chemical weapons attack late Saturday night killed at least 60 people had been killed and more than 1,000 injured in several sites in Douma, a city near the capital Damascus, according to a Syrian aid organization.

"It was an atrocious attack. Trump said. "This is about humanity. We're talking about humanity. It can't be allowed to happen," he said.

The Syrian government and its ally Russia have denied involvement in the attack.

Trump said he was talking to military leaders and would decide who was responsible for the "barbaric act" - whether it was Russia, Assad's government, Iran, or all of them together.

US forces a year ago fired a volley of cruise missiles at the government's Shayrat air base in retaliation for another suspected chemical attack in April last year.

ROBUST RESPONSE

Syria has been accused multiple times of using toxic weapons including sarin gas in the country's seven-year war, which has killed more than 350,000 people.

Pressure was mounting over the latest accusations that it killed dozens of people on Saturday with a toxic gas attack on Douma.

Rescuers and medics said at least 48 people died after showing symptoms consistent with exposure to "poisonous chlorine gas," including foaming at the mouth and difficulty breathing.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson yesterday called for a "strong and robust international response" to the attack, after similar calls by Paris and Washington.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Trump shared information "confirming" the use of chemical weapons and would coordinate their efforts, according to the French presidency.

The UN's chemical weapons watchdog said it had "made a preliminary analysis of the reports of the alleged use of chemical weapons immediately after they were issued."

Ahmet Uzumcu, who heads the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, said more evidence was being gathered "to establish whether chemical weapons were used."

The OPCW's fact-finding mission for Syria was established in April 2014 to confirm chemical weapons use, but it does not have the mandate to establish who is responsible.

Russia said yesterday it had carried out its own probe and concluded there was no evidence.

"Our military specialists have visited this place... and they did not find any trace of chlorine or any other chemical substance used against civilians," Lavrov said.

Both Syria and Russia have fiercely denounced the allegations of chemical use in Douma as "fabrications," and had warned against using them to justify military action against President Bashar al-Assad.