Syria's Assad: Chemical attack was fabrication

"We believe it is highly likely that the attack was carried out by the Assad regime", May said in a televised statement.

British scientists have said a toxic gas known as sarin was used in the attack on a rebel-held town, she said.

On Thursday, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) announced that their scientists "have analyzed samples taken from Khan Sheikhoun".

Lavrov said Russia, Iran and Syria have demanded a "thorough, objective and unbiased investigation" under the auspices of the OPCW, insisting it must use "independent experts", including from Moscow.

Syrian authorities - "abetted by Russia's continuing efforts to bury the truth" - still possess and use chemical weapons, an American diplomat told the global chemical weapons watchdog on Thursday.

Assad, in an interview with Agence France-Presse, denied that any chemical weapons attack took place. Severe restrictions were placed on the news agency.

The trio said that the probe should be carried out by a well-balanced team of experts under the auspices of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the United Nations chemical weapons watchdog, reported Xinhua news agency. First he banned immigrants and asylum seekers due to their religious views and now he has taken military action without Congressional approval.

But the former head of Syria's chemical warfare said he believes the Assad regime has been experimenting with different mixes of the gases, such as sarin with tear gas, in order to create a mélange of symptoms that would make the cause of death and injuries hard to identify.

In an exclusive interview with AFP in Damascus - his first since the alleged April 4 attack prompted a U.S. air strike on Syrian forces - Assad said his army had given up all its chemical weapons and that Syrian military power was not affected by the USA strike.

While the tensions between Russian Federation and the USA continue to grow following the American missile strike in Syria, new details about the Idlib chemical attack are being revealed.

Washington launched 59 missiles at the Syrian airbase after a chemical attack in Idlib province on 6 April that Western powers blame on the Syrian government.

In his AFP interview, Assad accused the West, particularly the United States, of being "hand-in-glove with the terrorists" over the Khan Sheikhoun incident. "They fabricated the whole story in order to have a pretext for the attack", he said.

Earlier testing by Turkish authorities had also said the chemical used on April 4 was sarin. In 2015 he denied using chemical weapons in Aleppo, despite being shown photographic evidence of chemical barrel bombs being dropped from helicopters. He was referring to the White Helmets, a volunteer rescue group working in rebel-held areas that has received funding from the US and other Western governments.