Donald Trump talks with Theresa May over 'chemical attacks' in Syria

Slamming Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, both the leaders agreed not to allow use of chemical weapons in future.

A statement published by the White House said: "Both leaders condemned Syrian President Assad’s vicious disregard for human life.  The President and Prime Minister agreed not to allow the use of chemical weapons to continue."

US President Donald Trump earlier said his government is going to take a 'major decision' on the crisis in Syria after an alleged chemical attack.

"We are studying that situation extremely closely.  We are meeting with our military and everybody else, and we’ll be making some major decisions over the next 24 to 48 hours," Trump told reporters.

"We are very concerned when a thing like that can happen.  This is about humanity.  We’re talking about humanity.  And it can’t be allowed to happen," he said.

He said: "So if it’s Russia, if it’s Syria, if it’s Iran, if it’s all of them together, we’ll figure it out and we’ll know the answers quite soon.  So we’re looking at that very, very strongly and very seriously."

Russia has invited for a fair investigation into the alleged Syrian chemical attack incident.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was quoted as saying by TASS: " We are in total support of a fair and immediate investigation, when they ask for it. However, when the investigation is intended to come at a predetermined point - that is, it was done by Assad with Putin’s support - there are no grounds for a serious discussion."

US President Donald Trump earlier attacked Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over the suspected chemical attack.

Trump tweeted: "Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria. Area of atrocity is in lockdown and encircled by Syrian Army, making it completely inaccessible to outside world. President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price. To pay. Open area immediately for medical help and verification. Another humanitarian disaster for no reason whatsoever. SICK!."

The White House earlier issued a statement where it said that Trump spoke to  President Emmanuel Macron of France and both the leaders condemned the attack.

Meanwhile,  days after alleged chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma, the United Nations Security Council failed to adopt two competing resolutions that would have established a mechanism to investigate use of such weapons in Syria, as well as another concerning a fact-finding mission in the war-torn country.

Had one of the two mechanisms proposed in the drafts been approved, it could have filled the vacuum left by the Organisation for Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) when its mandate expired last November.

The first draft considered on Tuesday – penned by the United States – which would have established a new investigative mechanism for one year, as well as identify those responsible for the use of chemical weapons, was rejected owing to a negative vote from Russia.

The draft received 12 votes in favour, two against (Bolivia and Russia) and one abstention (China).

A negative vote – or veto – from one of the Council's five permanent members – China, France, Russia, United Kingdom and the United States – blocks passage of a resolution.

Today’s meeting marked the twelfth time Russia has used its veto to block Council action on Syria.

Similarly, a competing draft – penned by Russia – which would have established the mechanism for one year as well but would have given the Security Council the responsibility to assign accountability for the use of chemical weapons in Syria, was also not adopte.

This draft received six Council members’ vote in favour (Bolivia, China, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan and Russia), seven against (France, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States) and two abstentions (Cote d’Ivoire and Kuwait).

The Council rejected a third text – also proposed by Russia – which concerned the work of the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission (FFM).

The draft received five votes in favour (Bolivia, China, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan and Russia), four against (France, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States), and six abstentions (Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Peru, and Sweden).

Ahead of the Security Council meetings today, UN Secretary-General António Guterres had repeated his call on 15-member body to “find unity” on the issue of use of chemical weapons in Syria and ensure accountability.

“The norms against chemical weapons must be upheld. I appeal to the Security Council to fulfil its responsibility and find unity on this issue,” he said.

“I also encourage the Council to redouble its efforts to agree on a dedicated mechanism for accountability.”

Images: Donald Trump Facebookpage and Wikimedia Commons