MOSCOW, Apr 13 (Agencies): Russia has warned the US that launching airstrikes in response to a suspected chemical attack in Syria could spark a war between the two countries and accused Washington of putting international peace at risk.
"The immediate priority is to avert the danger of war," Moscow's UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said on Thursday.
Western powers are thought to be preparing for strikes but Syria's ally Russia opposes such action, the BBC reported on Friday.
Nebenzia said the situation was "very dangerous" and they "cannot exclude any possibilities". There is a heightened "danger of escalation" because of the Russian military presence in Syria, Nebenzia said after a private meeting of the UN Security Council in New York.
Senior Russian figures, including the head of the military, warned that US missiles will be shot down and their launch sites targeted if Russian personnel come under threat, the report said.
Nebenzia also called for the UN Security Council to meet again on Friday to discuss the possibility of Western military action. The White House said it was continuing to assess intelligence and talk to its allies on how to respond.
Meanwhile, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said its experts in Syria will start investigations on Saturday.
The call for action came after a suspected chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Douma in the Eastern Ghouta last week killed over 70 people. President Bashar al-Assad's government called the chemical attack reports "fabricated".
The Violations Documentation Centre, which records alleged violations of international law in Syria, said bodies were found with foam at the mouth, discoloured skin and burns to the eyes.
Meanwhile, Russia has warned the US that launching air strikes in response to a suspected chemical attack in Syria could spark a war between the two countries.
"The immediate priority is to avert the danger of war," Moscow's UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said on Thursday.
He accused Washington of putting international peace at risk and said the situation was "very dangerous".
Western powers are thought to be preparing for strikes but Russia, a Syrian ally, opposes such action.
Meanwhile, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) says experts are travelling to Syria and will start investigations on Saturday. The call for action comes after a suspected chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Douma in the Eastern Ghouta on Saturday, which killed dozens of people, according to opposition activists, rescue workers and medics.
Chemical weapons attacks are suspected to have taken place in Syria before. Last year, the US launched a retaliatory strike against one said to have taken place in Khan Sheikhoun, where victims had tested positive for sarin poisoning.
Earlier, thousands of Islamist fighters and their relatives left the Syrian town of Douma they once controlled as the last evacuations from Eastern Ghouta continued Friday, a monitor said.
The fighters from the Jaish al-Islam group left overnight and thousands of civilians onboard 85 buses that took them to areas of northern Syria still held by rebels.
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