The US is to investigate possible Russian collusion in the suspected chemical attack carried out by the Syrian government.

The White House said there was currently no consensus in the intelligence community about whether Russia knew about the chemical attack before it was launched last week, killing 80 people.

Damascus denies it was behind the attack.

An official at the White House said Vladimir Putin had isolated Russia by aligning himself with Bashar al-Assad, and accused Russia of showing a clear pattern of trying to shift blame for chemical attacks away from the Syrian government.

The comments come after Mr Putin accused rebels of planning a fake chemical attack in order to frame Mr Assad.

The Russian president, speaking in Moscow alongside his Italian counterpart, said: “We have information from different sources that these provocations - I cannot call them otherwise - are being prepared in other regions of Syria, including in the southern suburbs of Damascus where there are plans to throw some substance and accuse the official Syrian authorities.”

In pictures: US missile strike against Syria Show all 7 1 /7 In pictures: US missile strike against Syria In pictures: US missile strike against Syria The guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) launches a tomahawk land attack missile in the Mediterranean Sea AP In pictures: US missile strike against Syria The United States military launched at least 50 tomahawk cruise missiles at al-Shayrat military airfield near Homs, Syria, in response to the Syrian military's alleged use of chemical weapons in an airstrike in a rebel held area in Idlib province EPA In pictures: US missile strike against Syria Shayrat airfield in Syria Getty Images In pictures: US missile strike against Syria US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) fires a tomahawk land attack missile in Mediterranean Sea Reuters In pictures: US missile strike against Syria US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) fires a tomahawk land attack missile in Mediterranean Sea Reuters In pictures: US missile strike against Syria President Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., after the US fired a barrage of cruise missiles into Syria in retaliation for this week's gruesome chemical weapons attack against civilians AP In pictures: US missile strike against Syria Syria's President Bashar al-Assad Reuters

Mr Putin also called for his own investigation into the chemical attack, saying: “We plan to turn to the United Nations bodies in The Hague and call on the global community to thoroughly investigate into this incident and make balanced decisions based on the investigation’s outcome.”

He added that some in the West are using Syria to cast Russia as a "common enemy".