THE Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) announced tonight that a fact-finding team is preparing to deploy to Syria “shortly” to investigate allegations of a chemical attack.

The OPCW said that its technical secretariat had asked the Syrian government to make the necessary arrangements for such a deployment.

The international chemical weapons watchdog had already been invited by President Bashar al-Assad’s government and Moscow  pledged also to help arrange a visit.

Federation Council defence committee member Yevgeny Serberennikov said that Russia was anxious for the OPCW to “finally start carrying out the functions it was created for.”

Syria’s Foreign Ministry urged the OPCW to work with “full transparency and rely on credible and tangible evidence.”

The jihadist Jaish al-Islam group, which controlled part of the eastern Ghouta area, had alleged that government forces launched a chemical attack in Douma, killing 40 people.

Russian presidential envoy for the Middle East and Africa Mikhail Bogdanov revealed today that the Israeli ambassador to Moscow had been asked to come to the Foreign Ministry “to talk” later in the day.

He explained that Russian diplomats wanted to talk about various issues related to the Syrian war, as well as bilateral relations.

Israeli warplanes killed at least 14 people, including Iranians assisting Syria’s armed forces, when they attacked the T4 air base in Homs province early yesterday morning.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency put the number of Iranians killed in the attack at seven, four of whom, including a Revolutionary Guard colonel, have been identified.