A suspected chemical attack in rebel-held northwestern Syria killed 72 civilians including 20 children and left many more sick and gasping, causing widespread outrage.
The attack on the town of Khan Sheikhun killed at least 72 civilians and saw dozens suffer respiratory problems and symptoms including vomiting, fainting and foaming at the mouth, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
"There were also 17 women among the dead and the death toll could rise further because there are people missing," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.Â
Syria's opposition blamed President Bashar al-Assad's forces, saying the attack cast doubt on the future of peace talks.
The army denied any involvement in a statement blaming "terrorist groups" for using "chemical and toxic substances".
The United Nations Commission of Inquiry for Syria has said that it had begun investigating a suspected chemical attack that killed at least 58 people in a rebel-held town in the northwestern Idlib Province.
"Reports suggesting that this was a chemical weapons attack are extremely concerning. The commission is currently investigating the circumstances surrounding this attack including the alleged use of chemical weapons," said a statement from the UN experts who are probing potential war crimes committed during Syria's civil war.
However, the Syrian army has denied involvement in any suspected chemical attack.
"The army command categorically denies using any chemical or toxic substance in Khan Sheikhun today," said a statement carried by the state news agency SANA.
"It stresses that it has never used them, any time, anywhere, and will not do so in the future," it added.
Moscow defends Syrian regimeÂ
A Syrian air strike hit a "terrorist warehouse" containing "toxic substances", Moscow said today, a day after a suspected chemical attack in rebel-held northwest Syria that killed scores of civilians.
"According to the objective data of the Russian airspace control, Syrian aviation struck a large terrorist warehouse near Khan Sheikhun," the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.
It housed "a warehouse making bombs, with toxic substances", said the ministry, without stating if the strike was voluntary or deliberate.
The statement did not specify whether the Syrian regime knew there were chemical weapons there and pointed the finger at "terrorists" who they say hold the toxic arms.
'US condemns attack'
The US has strongly condemned a suspected chemical attack in Syria describing it as "reprehensible" and "intolerable" attack.
"The US stands with its allies to condemn this horrible attack," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said during an off-camera news conference.
Asserting that such an attack is "unacceptable", Spicer suggested it was in the "best interest" of the Syrians for President Bashar Al-Assad not to lead the country.
He, however, did not disclose the next steps that the Trump administration plans to take against this attack.
"We are not ready to say what should be the next step, but we will get there soon," Spicer said in response to a question, adding that the US President Donald Trump was briefed on this issue by his national security staff.
72 killed in 'toxic gas attack'
A suspected chemical attack killed at least 72 civilians including several children in rebel-held northwestern Syria on Tuesday, a monitor said, with the opposition accusing the government and demanding a UN investigation.
The attack in the town of Khan Sheikhun left dozens suffering respiratory problems and symptoms including vomiting, fainting and foaming at the mouth, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
A hospital in the town where doctors were treating victims of the attack was also bombarded.
The entrance of the building was hit, bringing down rubble on top of medics who had earlier been seen dousing a steady stream of arrivals to wash away chemical residue.
The violence came as the European Union and UN hosted a conference in Brussels on Syria's future, with confusion over Washington's position on the issue of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's future.
The Observatory said the attack on a residential part of Khan Sheikhun came in the early hours of Tuesday, when a warplane carried out strikes that released "toxic gas".
It said 20 children, 17 women were among the dead, with at least 160 injured, and that many people were dying even after arriving at medical facilities.
The monitor could not confirm the nature of the gas or whether the strikes were carried out by Syrian warplanes or those of government ally Russia.
It relies on a network of sources inside Syria and says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to type, location, flight patterns and munitions used.
An AFP journalist in Khan Sheikun saw a young girl, a woman and two elderly people dead at the hospital prior to the bombardment, all with foam still visible around their mouths.
Doctors at the facility had been using basic equipment, some not even wearing lab coats, and attempting to revive patients who were not breathing.
The town is in Syria's Idlib province, which is largely controlled by an alliance of rebels including former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front.
The province is regularly targeted in strikes by the regime, as well as Russian warplanes, and has also been hit by the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group, usually targeting jihadists.
Syria's leading opposition group, the National Coalition, accused the "regime of the criminal Bashar" of being behind the attack.
It called on the UN Security Council to convene an emergency session, "open an immediate investigation and take the necessary measures to ensure the officials, perpetrators and supporters are held accountable."
"Failure to do so will be understood as a message of blessing to the regime for its actions," the statement added.
Syria's government officially joined the Chemical Weapons Convention and turned over its chemical arsenal in 2013, as part of a deal to avert US military action.
But there have been repeated allegations of chemical weapons use by the government since then, with a UN-led investigation pointing the finger at the regime for at least three chlorine attacks in 2014 and 2015.Â
'World must act'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the world must act to rid Syria of chemical weapons.
"When I saw pictures of babies suffocating from a chemical attack in Syria, I was shocked and outraged," Netanyahu's office quoted him as saying in English.
"I call on the international community to fulfil its obligation from 2013 to fully and finally remove these horrible weapons from Syria."
'Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad responsible'
French President Francois Hollande has accused Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad of responsibility for the "massacre".
"Once again the Syrian regime will deny the evidence of its responsibility for this massacre," Hollande said in a statement.
"Those who support this regime can once again reflect on the enormity of their political, strategic and moral responsibility," Hollande added.
France called earlier Tuesday for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the attack.Â
Syria, a member of Chemical Weapons Convention
Syria's government officially joined the Chemical Weapons Convention and turned over its chemical arsenal in 2013, as part of a deal to avert US military action.
That agreement came after hundreds of people -- up to 1,429 according to a US intelligence report -- were killed in chemical weapons strikes allegedly carried out by Syrian troops east and southwest of Damascus.
But there have been repeated allegations of chemical weapons use by the government since then, with a UN-led investigation pointing the finger at the regime for at least three chlorine attacks in 2014 and 2015.
Tuesday's attack was the latest apparently involving chemical weapons since protests against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011 morphed into a civil war, which has since left more than 320,000 people dead.
Global watchdog 'seriously concerned'
The global chemical arms watchdog said today it was "seriously concerned" by reports of a suspected gas attack on a rebel-held town in Syria that killed at least 58 people.
"The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is seriously concerned about the alleged chemical weapons attack reported by the media this morning in the Khan Sheikhun area of southern Idlib," the group said, adding it was "gathering and analysing information from all available sources."
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With inputs from PTI
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