International condemnation grew over a suspected poison gas attack in a rebel-held town near Damascus said to have been carried out by the Syrian government, while Syria and its main ally, Russia, blamed Israel for airstrikes on a Syrian air base that reportedly killed 14 people, including four Iranians.
The timing of the airstrikes in central Homs province, hours after President Donald Trump said there would be "a big price to pay" for the chemical weapons attack, raised questions about whether Israel was acting alone or as a proxy for the United States.
Israel did not comment on today's missile strike. The Jewish State typically does not comment on its airstrikes in Syria, which have been numerous in Syria's civil war.
The fast-paced developments threatened to further hike tensions between the US and Russia, which has in the past warned against any US military action against President Bashar Assad's government.
Iran, a key ally of Assad, condemned the airstrikes, which it said killed four Iranians, including a colonel and a member of the Revolutionary Guard's aerospace force.
Opposition activists said 40 people died in Saturday night's chemical attack in the town of Douma, the last remaining rebel bastion in the eastern suburbs of Damascus, blaming Assad's forces. The attack killed entire families in their homes and underground shelters, opposition activists and local rescuers said.
The Syrian government strongly denied it carried out a chemical weapons attack and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said it has opened an investigation. In a statement, it said a fact-finding mission was gathering information from all available sources to establish whether chemical weapons were used.
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Russia's UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, urged inspectors from the watchdog agency to fly to Syria's capital today and visit the site in a nearby rebel-held town.
He denied any attack occurred, telling the UN Security Council that experts from Russia's military radiological, biological and chemical unit went to the site and found no chemical substances on the ground, no dead, and no poisoned people in hospitals.
Trump today condemned the "heinous attack" in Syria and said later at a Cabinet meeting that he would "forcefully" respond.
"Nothing is off the table," Trump warned.
He said that after conferring with his military advisers, he would soon decide on how to respond, and against whom. "If it's Russia, if it's Syria, if it's Iran, if it's all of them together, we'll figure it out," Trump said.
Referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin, he added: "Everybody's going to pay a price he will, everybody will."
"The Iranians are determined to base themselves in Syria," he told the Army Radio station. "Israel is determined not to let them do that. And there is a strategic collision that perhaps tonight may have come together because of the chemical issue."