International watchdog deploys team to probe suspected Syria chemical attack

The international chemical weapons watchdog is deploying a fact-finding mission to Syria to investigate the scene of a reported chemical strike that killed scores of people on Saturday.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said that investigators are en route to Syria and are expected to arrive in the country on Thursday. 

The investigation in the Damascus suburb of Douma was requested by Russia and Syria.

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The U.S. and several other countries have blamed the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad for carrying out the alleged chemical strike — an accusation that both Moscow and Damascus have denied.

Syria has accused militants of fabricating videos purporting to show victims of a chemical attack in order to frame the government and prompt international outrage.

President Trump has said this week that he is weighing a potential military response to the chemical attack, and the United Kingdom and France have also expressed support for a response.

Trump authorized a missile strike on Shayrat Air Base in Syria in April 2017 after a chemical weapons strike in the northern Idlib province left more than 80 people dead.

That missile strike dealt only modest damage to the air base. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Trump and his advisers are weighing a more robust attack in response to the recent attack.