France says samples from April 4 Syria chemical attack prove government used sarin: minister

Samples obtained by French intelligence show that forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "undoubtedly" used sarin nerve gas in an April 4 attack in northern Syria, France's foreign minister said on Wednesday, citing a declassified report.

The attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun killed scores of people and prompted the United States to launch a cruise missile strike on a Syrian air base in response, its first direct assault on the Assad government in the conflict.

"We know, from a certain source, that the process of fabrication of the samples taken is typical of the method developed in Syrian laboratories," Jean-Marc Ayrault told reporters.

"This method is the signature of the regime and it is what enables us to establish the responsibility of the attack. We know because we kept samples from previous attacks that we were able to use for comparison."

At least 18 Kurdish YPG members killed in Turkish air strikes in Syria - monitor

At least 18 Kurdish YPG fighters and media officials were killed in Turkish air strikes on a headquarters of the militia in northeastern Syria on Tuesday, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

The YPG, a U.S. ally in the fight against Islamic State, did not immediately give its own precise death toll.

Turkey's military bombed the YPG and Kurdish militants in neighbouring Iraq early on Tuesday, widening a campaign against groups affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Aleppo bomb blast kills six - Syrian state TV

A bomb blast killed six people and injured 32 in the Salah al-Din district of Aleppo, Syrian state television reported on Wednesday without giving further details.

Salah al-Din is located west of Aleppo's Old City in a district that was part of the last rebel enclave there until it was taken over by the Syrian army in an advance in December.

Syria says U.S. strike hit IS poison gas depot, killed hundreds; U.S. denies

The Syrian army said an air strike late on Wednesday by the U.S.-led coalition hit poison gas supplies belonging to Islamic State, releasing a toxic substance that killed "hundreds", but the coalition denied carrying out raids in the area.

A statement by the army, flashed on Thursday by Syrian state TV, said the incident in the eastern Deir al-Zor province proved that Islamic State and al Qaeda-linked militants "possess chemical weapons".

The report could not immediately be independently verified.

U.S. Air Force Colonel John Dorrian, a spokesman for the coalition, said it had carried out no air strikes in that area at that time.

"The Syrian claim is incorrect and likely intentional misinformation," he said in an email to Reuters.

The United States launched cruise missiles at a Syrian air base last week, in response to a deadly poison gas attack in the west of the country that Washington blamed on President Bashar al-Assad's government.

Syria and its ally Russia deny Damascus carried out any such chemical attack. Moscow has said the poison gas in that incident belonged to rebels.

The U.S. strike on the Syrian air base was the first time Washington has deliberately and directly targeted the Syrian government. It is separately waging an air campaign against Islamic State in eastern Syria.

Chemical weapons experts in Turkey to investigate alleged Syrian sarin attack: sources

A team of experts from the global chemical weapons watchdog has been sent to Turkey to collect samples as part of an investigation into an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria last week that killed 87 people.

The fact finding mission was sent from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague to gather bio-metric samples and interview survivors, sources told Reuters on Thursday.