Ghouta chemical attack

International investigators entered on April 17 a Syrian town hit by an alleged chemical attack, after days of delay and warnings by
Western powers that crucial evidence had likely been removed.

A visit by chemical weapons inspectors to the site of a suspected gas attack in Syria was delayed on April 16, British and Russian officials said, as Western powers and Russia traded accusations in the aftermath of retaliatory U.S.-led missile strikes.

The US, UK and France have launched strikes "on targets associated with the chemical weapons capabilities" in Syria, US President Donald Trump announced early on Saturday. 

The strikes come after a suspected chemical weapons attack in the former rebel stronghold of Douma last weekend. 

Here are all the latest updates on the strikes: 

(CNN) About 500 people may have been affected by a suspected chemical attack on Syria's rebel-held town of Douma, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Monday on Syria following a chemical attack on civilians in Eastern Ghouta, according to the U.S. mission at the UN.

The Syrian Arab army is advancing in several directions in the controlled by extremists region - Eastern Ghouta, the France press reports. This was stated by a senior Syrian soldier before the state agency SANA on Sunday.

Pope Francis on Feb. 25 said Syria was being “martyred” by continued attacks killing civilians in the eastern Ghouta district, calling for an immediate end to violence and access to humanitarian aid.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson pointed the finger at Syrian President Bashar Assad for the reported chemical incident in East Ghouta, while ultimately blaming Russia for it, regardless of who actually committed the attack.

Russia must end "blind support" for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and help find a political solution to the six-year Syrian civil war, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said April 18.

In an address to parliament, Johnson told MPs that the U.K. could join the U.S. in airstrikes against the Assad regime.

The United States has "no doubt" that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was responsible for last week's chemical attack on a rebel-held town that left dozens dead, Pentagon chief Jim Mattis said Tuesday, reported AFP.