Father shows off twin boy and girl killed in Syria's 'sarin gas massacre', as death toll reaches 72

A devastated father has been pictured cradling the bodies of his dead twins after they were killed during the chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun, in the rebel-held central province of Idlib, Syria

The faces of the innocent victims of a chemical gas attack in northern Syria have been revealed after a father asked for photos of his twin children who died in the massacre to be shared.

Devastated Abdul Hamid Youssef was pictured cradling the bodies of his dead toddler-aged twins, Ahmed and Aiya, after they were killed during the chemical 'sarin gas' attack in Khan Sheikhoun, in the rebel-held central province of Idlib, Syria.

Youssef, who lost 20 members of his family including his wife in Tuesday's attack and is believed to be seriously ill himself, also shared images of his children, a boy and a girl, playing together before they were killed in the war-ravaged town.

It has been reported he is now very sick himself in hospital, suffering from chemical exposure.

Up to 100 people, including 20 children and 17 women, are dead following the chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun.

The latest official death toll being reported as 72, according to the UK-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The man, who has not been named, was seen sitting on the ground as he hugged his young children following Tuesday's attack. Renewed air strikes hit Khan Sheikhoun on Wednesday. No casualties were reported because the area had been evacuated following Tuesday's attack 

Renewed air strikes hit Khan Sheikhoun on Wednesday, as cities around Syria were affected by raids.

Air strikes hit Douma, Kafr Batna and Saqba, a town in the Eastern Ghouta Region of Damascus, Syria, on Tuesday and Wednesday. A strike in Saqba killed four people, including two children, and injured ten others.

No casualties were reported following air strikes in Khan Sheikhoun on Wednesday because the area had been evacuated following Tuesday's attack.

Russia's defense ministry said on Wednesday that the poisonous gas contamination was the result of gas leaking from a rebel chemical weapons depot after it was hit by Syrian government air strikes.

The United States has blamed the administration of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the attack, while British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson also suggested the attack was caused by the Assad regime.

A team of rescuers is still finding survivors from the chemical attack, including two women and a boy who were found hiding in an underground shelter beneath their home.

The children, pictured above, were among the 72 reported dead after Tuesday's chemical attack, which is believed to have been caused by the nerve agent sarin

The UN Security Council was to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday in response to the chemical strike and in Brussels, officials from 70 nations gathered for a major donors' conference on the future of Syria and the region.

The attack on Tuesday left residents gasping for breath and convulsing in the streets and overcrowded hospitals. It is believed that in addition to the nearly 100 deaths, 400 people were injured after being exposed to toxins during the attack.

Haunting images of lifeless children piled in heaps reflected the magnitude of the attack, which was reminiscent of a 2013 chemical assault that left hundreds dead and was the worst in the country's ruinous six-year conflict.

The Russian defence ministry said in a statement that the building housed 'a warehouse making bombs, with toxic substances', without saying if the strike was accidental or deliberate.

The ministry said the 'arsenal of chemical weapons' was intended for fighters in Iraq, describing its information as 'completely reliable and objective.'.

'Yesterday, from 11.30am to 12.30pm local time, Syrian aviation made a strike on a large terrorist ammunition depot and a concentration of military hardware in the eastern outskirts of Khan Sheikhoun town,' Russian defense ministry spokesman Igor Konoshenkov said in a statement posted on YouTube.

'On the territory of the depot there were workshops which produced chemical warfare munitions,' he said, adding that the chemical munitions had been used by rebels in Aleppo last year.

'The poisoning symptoms of the victims in Khan Sheikhoun shown on videos in social networks are the same as they were in autumn of the previous year in Aleppo,' Konoshenkov said.

Russia on Wednesday said it was pushing on with its support for President Bashar al-Assad's forces in Syria, after deflecting blame from Damascus over a suspected chemical attack.

'Russia and its armed forces are continuing the operation to support the anti-terrorist operation to liberate the country, which the Syrian armed forces are conducting,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

Foreign Secretary Johnson said as he arrived for a Syria aid conference in Brussels that the attack appeared to be caused by the Assad regime.

'All the evidence I have seen suggests this was the Assad regime... using illegal weapons on their own people,' Johnson said.

'What it confirms to everybody is that this is a barbaric regime which has made it impossible for us to imagine them (having) authority over Syria after this conflict,' he added.

US president Donald Trump called the chemical attack a 'heinous' act that 'cannot be ignored by the civilized world'.

Speaking as he hosted Jordan's King Abdullah in the Oval Office, on Wednesday, the US leader also described Tuesday's strike as 'a terrible affront to humanity.'

Asked whether the attack, which Washington has squarely blamed on Damascus, could trigger a change of policy on the Syrian conflict, Trump replied: 'We'll see.'

Doctors treating victims at makeshift hospitals in the area say dozens of victims from Khan Sheikhoun are showing signs of sarin poisoning, including foaming at the mouth, breathing difficulties and limp bodies.