UPDATE | Pentagon says Syria prepping chemical attack

BEIRUT (AP) — The Pentagon says the U.S. has seen chemical weapons activity at a Syrian air base that was used for an April sarin gas attack.

Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said Tuesday the activity at the Shayrat air base indicates “active preparations for chemical weapons use.”

The U.S. accused Syrian forces of launching a chemical attack from the base in April that killed dozens of civilians. In response, President Donald Trump ordered the military to fire about 60 cruise missiles at the base.

The White House warned late Monday that Syrian President Bashar Assad and his military would pay a “heavy price” for another chemical weapons attack. Assad’s government and his allies deny the allegation.

Earlier, a senior Russian lawmaker has dismissed the United States’ warning as “provocation.”

Frants Klintsevich, first deputy chairman of the defense and security committee at the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, on Tuesday accused the United States of “preparing a new attack on the positions of Syrian forces.”

In comments to state-owned RIA Novosti, he added: “Preparations for a new cynical and unprecedented provocation are underway.”

Assad had denied responsibility for the April 4 attack in the rebel-held Idlib province that killed dozens of people, and Russia, Assad’s key backer, sided with him. Days later, President Trump launched a retaliatory cruise missile strike on a Syrian government-controlled air base.