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France today warned against military strikes on the Syrian regime based on a “rush of blood” by Donald Trump after dozens were killed in a suspected chemical weapons attack.

French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault also accused Washington of sending mixed messages over how it would respond to the alleged war crime by tyrant Bashar Assad’s forces.

The priority at this stage, he added, was to pursue diplomatic talks to try to reach a United Nations Security Council resolution on Syria.

Post mortem results have revealed that chemical weapons were used in the attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Syria’s Idlib province which killed at least 70 people including 20 children, Turkish justice minister Bekir Bozdag said today.

Thirty-two victims of Tuesday’s attack have been brought to Turkey and three have subsequently died.

Britain, France and the US are pushing for a new UN resolution to condemn the attack, despite resistance from Russia.

“France is still seeking to talk with its partners on the Security Council, especially the permanent members, and Russia in particular,” said Mr Ayrault.

However, he was more cautious about a military response. He said: “The first stage is to get a resolution vote and above all to restart peace negotiations in Geneva.

"It is not to go in ourselves, under the pretext that the US president may have a rush of blood to the head, and get onto a war footing.”

Mr Trump stressed yesterday that Assad’s government had gone “beyond a red line” with the suspected poison attack on civilians, but did not detail how he might respond.

US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley warned that America “could be compelled to act” if the UN failed to respond.

But Mr Ayrault said the US response on Syria was still unclear, and that he was getting mixed messages from his counterpart, US secretary of state Rex Tillerson, and defence secretary Jim Mattis.

“They’re not saying the same thing,” he said. Mr Tillerson has piled pressure on Russia not to block a new UN resolution.

Britain is also waiting to see what route Mr Trump takes, though Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has warned that the Assad regime must “pay a price” if it is found to have carried out the attack, which he believes it did.

Mr Johnson today said a UN resolution should be passed before any unilateral action was taken in Syria. “It is very important to try first to get out a UN resolution,” he told reporters in Sarajevo.

“I cannot understand how anybody on the UN security council could fail to sign up to a motion condemning the actions of the regime that is almost certainly responsible for that crime.”

Russia has claimed Syrian air strikes hit a rebel position where chemical weapons were being manufactured.

The Syrian regime denies it is to blame for the deaths.

In an interview conducted before the chemical weapons attack, Assad said that there is no “option except victory” with his forces making advances against the rebels.

Diplomatic experts believe that messages from Washington that it was no longer seeking to oust Assad may have emboldened his regime to launch the chemical weapons strike.