U.S., allies consider Syria response

An international team of chemical weapons investigators prepared to deploy to Syria on Tuesday as the White House weighed a possible U.S. military response to a suspected chemical attack that killed dozens of people outside of Damascus.

President Donald Trump canceled a trip to Latin America so he could oversee the U.S. response to Saturday’s incident in the town of Douma, and conferred in phone calls with the leaders of France and Britain. Trump said Monday that he would decide within 48 hours how best to respond, but the impending visit of experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons may push the timetable further out.

As pressure and threats mounted, the United States and Russia used their vetoes at the United Nations Security Council to cancel out each other’s proposals for investigations.

In Damascus, the Syrian military was put on alert as measures were taken to protect airports and military bases against a possible airstrike. The USS Donald Cook, a guided missile destroyer, arrived in the eastern Mediterranean in recent days.

At day’s end, it was uncertain whether a military strike had been averted, or merely delayed.

British Prime Minister Theresa May’s office said Britain, France and the United States have already decided that the perpetrators of the attack will be “held to account.”

SYRIAN CIVIL DEFENSE WHITE HELMETS VIA AP A medical worker gives toddlers oxygen through respirators following an alleged poison gas attack Sunday in the opposition-held town of Douma, Syria. The attack has escalated tensions surrounding the war.