White House warns that Syria may be about to ‘mass murder innocent children’ in a horrifying new chemical attack

THE White House this morning issued a stark warning to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad claiming it has "potential" evidence Syria is preparing another chemical weapons attack.

In an ominous statement, Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the US had "identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children."

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He said the activities were similar to preparations taken before the April 2017 attack which killed dozens of men, women and children.

And he warned that if  "Mr. Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price".

The White House offered no details on what prompted the warning and spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said she had no additional information.

Several State Department officials typically involved in coordinating such announcements said they were caught completely off guard by the warning, which didn't appear to be discussed in advance with other national security agencies.

Typically, the State Department, the Pentagon and US intelligence agencies would all be consulted before the White House issued a declaration sure to ricochet across foreign capitals.

The officials weren't authorised to discuss national security planning publicly and requested anonymity.

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A non-governmental source with close ties to the White House said the administration had received intelligence that the Syrians were mixing precursor chemicals for a possible sarin gas attack in either the east of south of the country.

Assad had denied responsibility for the April 4 attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun in the rebel-held Idlib province that killed dozens of people, including children.

Victims show signs of suffocation, convulsions, foaming at the mouth and pupil constriction.

Days later, Trump launched a retaliatory cruise missile strike on a Syrian government-controlled air base where US officials said the Syrian military had launched the chemical attack.

It was the first direct American assault on the Syrian government and Trump's most dramatic military order since becoming president months before.

Trump said at the time that the Khan Sheikhoun attack crossed "many, many lines," and called on "all civilised nations" to join the US in seeking an end to the carnage in Syria.

Syria maintained it hadn't used chemical weapons and blamed opposition fighters for stockpiling the chemicals.

Russia's Defense Ministry said the toxic agents were released when a Syrian airstrike hit a rebel chemical weapons arsenal and munitions factory. Russia is a close ally of Assad.

The US attack on a Syrian air base came after years of heated debate and deliberation in Washington over intervention in the bloody civil war.

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Last night, Trump had dinner with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and other top officials as he hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House.

Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov talked earlier about the need to secure a cease-fire in Syria, fight extremist groups and prevent the use of chemical weapons, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Nikki Haley, the US Ambassador to the UN, followed up Spicer's statement with a Twitter warning: "Any further attacks done to the people of Syria will be blamed on Assad, but also on Russia & Iran who support him killing his own people."