Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday slammed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's comments that the Syrian town of Afrin, seized from Kurdish militia by Ankara, should be handed over to Damascus.

Iran said Tuesday the number of its soldiers killed in an air strike in Syria this week had risen to seven and that it would not go unanswered.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said Tuesday that allies of the Syrian regime bore "particular responsibility" for a recent suspected chemical attack that has sparked international outrage.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday that Israel would not accept Iranian entrenchment in Syria after missile strikes on a Syrian regime air base blamed on Israel.

The United States has asked the U.N. Security Council to vote Tuesday on its proposal to set up an inquiry to investigate chemical weapons attacks in Syria, but the measure is likely to face a veto from Russia, diplomats said.

U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly canceled his first trip to Latin America Tuesday, hunkering down in the White House as he faces momentous decisions about military strikes in Syria and an FBI investigation that is inching closer to the Oval Office.
In a statement that surprised even some White House staff, press secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump's trip to Peru and Colombia -- set to get under way Friday -- had been scrapped.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday a soldier who shot a Palestinian along the Gaza border in a video that has been widely shared "deserves a medal."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday said Moscow will propose a U.N. resolution to investigate alleged chemical weapons attacks in Syria, after Russia rejected a similar move from the United States.

The UN Secretary General on Tuesday called for international investigators to have unfettered access after an alleged chemical attack in Syria.

US President Donald Trump was poised Tuesday to decide on possible military action against the Syrian regime, after vowing to respond "forcefully" to the latest alleged chemical atrocity in the country's bloody civil war despite strong warnings from Damascus-ally Russia.
