Chemical watchdog inspectors to deploy to Syria attack site 'shortly'

The international chemical weapons watchdog has said it will send a fact-finding mission to the Syrian town where a chemical gas attack took place over the weekend.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said in a statement on Tuesday its inspectors were "preparing to deploy to Syria shortly," though it did not give a more precise timetable on when the inspectors would arrive.

"This has coincided with a request from the Syrian Arab Republic and the Russian Federation to investigate the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma," the statement said.

The OPCW said its technical Secretariat has asked the Syrian regime to make the necessary arrangements for the deployment, which will determine whether banned munitions were used - but will not assign blame.

On Saturday, the rebel-held town of Douma, in the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta, was the scene of a chemical weapons attack that killed as many as 60 people and injured more than 1,000 people.

The Syrian regime and its Russian backers strongly deny allegations they carried out the attack and questioned whether a chemical weapons attack even took place.

It was not clear whether the announcement will delay or prevent a US strike in Syria.

US President Donald Trump has vowed to respond "forcefully" to the suspected chlorine gas attack on civilians, and warned that Russia - or any other nation found to share responsibility - will "pay a price."

Trump on Tuesday cancelled plans to travel to South America later this week, choosing to stay in the US to manage the response to the events in Syria.

The incident has sparked international outrage, raising the spectre of possible imminent US retaliation amid Russia's warnings against any such action, and denials that any chemical attack took place.

Syrian government forces are on high alert and taking precautionary measures at military positions across the country amid fears of a US strike in the aftermath of the attack.

Sources told Syrian news website Zaman al-Wasl that the Syrian regime has "deployed advanced air defences around the capital and near the Republican Palace".

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that Syrian government troops were on a 72-hour alert and were fortifying their positions.

At the UN, Russia vetoed a US-drafted resolution that would have condemned the suspected gas attack and established a new body to determine responsibility for Syrian chemical weapons attacks.

Chemical weapons attacks have killed hundreds of people since the start of Syria's conflict, with the UN blaming four attacks on the Syrian regime and a fifth on the Islamic State group.