Trump administration officials have consulted with global allies on a possible joint military response to Syria’s alleged poison gas attack, as President Donald Trump cancelled a foreign trip in order to manage a crisis that is testing his vow to stand up to Syrian president Bashar Assad. Experts on Syria’s war cited France and perhaps even Britain and Middle East allies as potential partners in any U.S. military operation, which would aim to discourage future chemical weapons use in Syria’s brutal civil war.President Emmanuel Macron warned in February that France would strike Syria if it broke treaties prohibiting chemical weapons. Macron on Tuesday evening said he wants “a strong and joint response” to the attack, saying that France would decide in the coming days alongside the U.S. and Britain. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

U.S. President Donald Trump promised forceful action on Monday, saying a decision would be made soon following the suspected chemical weapons attack late on Saturday in the Syrian city of Douma that killed at least 60 people and injured more than 1,000 others. The Syrian government and its ally Russia have denied involvement in the attack. #Syria pic.twitter.com/qiEahlL3Ah — Department of State (@StateDept) April 9, 2018 Mr Trump suggested on Monday he had little doubt that Syrian government forces were to blame for what he said was a chemical attack, but neither he nor other administration officials have produced hard evidence. This is in contrast to an incident one year ago in which U.S. intelligence agencies had video and other evidence of certain aspects of the actual attack, which involved the use of Sarin gas. The guided missile destroyer is armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, the weapon of choice in a U.S. attack one year ago on an airfield in Syria following an alleged sarin gas attack on civilians. Asked whether France would take military action, Mr Macron said his country will continue discussing technical and strategic information with US and British allies and “in the coming days we will announce our decision”. And Syrian envoy Bashar Jaafari said Syria had no chemical weapons stockpiles. President Donald Trump, France’s President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May held phone conversations Tuesday discussing how the West should act in order to reinforce an international prohibition against chemical warfare. “Either way, the United States will respond.”

But the Russian ambassador to the U.N., Vassily Nebenzia, said the chemical attack was staged and warned that any U.S. military response in Syria would have “grave repercussions.”

Russian experts had entered Douma Monday and did not find any traces of chemical substances used against civilians, Nebenzia said. “We cannot tolerate with a war criminal,” the emir said, adding, “This matter should end immediately.” Qatar hosts the United States’ main air operations centre for the Middle East, which would coordinate any American air attack in Syria. A watchdog agency, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, announced that it will send “shortly” a fact-finding mission to Douma, after receiving a request from the Syrian government and its Russian backers to investigate the allegations. The Russian military, which has troops in Syria, said on Monday that its officers had visited the site of the alleged attack and found no evidence to back up reports of poison gas being used.
Anonymous U.S. officials say the United States is considering a multinational military response against Syrian government forces, with experts saying that France, the United Kingdom, and Middle Eastern allies would be considered to help.