US President Donald Trump will on Tuesday speak over phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a White House official said.It will be the first...

Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said Syria's past experience with international inquiries had not been encouraging. The government would only decide on the idea once its concerns were addressed, he said.

Syria’s closest ally on Wednesday rejected a UN Security Council resolution that blamed Bashar Assad’s forces, and said that the atrocity in Idlib was the result of a regime airstrike on a rebel chemical munitions depot.

The European Union and the United Nations have directly blamed the Bashar-Al Assad regime for this monstrosity. Russia, which has been the Assad regime’s closest ally, rejected the UN’s claims.

Foreign ministers Boris Johnson of Britain and Jean-Marc Ayrault of France spoke during an international conference on Syria, which the European Union convened in Brussels in a bid to shore up stalled peace talks between Assad and his rivals.

A senior State Department official, who asked for anonymity, said that everything pointed to the fact that the chemical attack was a “war crime” and that the countries backing Assad — Russia and Iran — have much to answer for.

At least 72 civilians including 20 children died in a suspected chemical attack on Tuesday in the rebel-held Syrian town of Khan Sheikhun in Idlib province in the northwest.