New Zealand condemns Syrian chemical weapons attack

Foreign Minister Murray McCully has condemned the chemical weapons attack in Syria which is reported to have killed at least 70 people, including 10 children.

The chemical weapons attack in an opposition-held town in northern Syria left residents gasping for breath and convulsing in the streets and overcrowded hospitals.

"I was appalled to learn of another attack in an area where chemical weapons have previously been used," McCully said.

"We join others in calling for a full investigation into the atrocity and for the perpetrators to be held to account."

CNN reports the air strikes hit the rebel held city of Khan Sheikho on Wednesday.

The Syrian military denied using chemical weapons and said rebels were responsible.

Photos: Getty

The Trump administration has blamed the Syrian government for the attack, one of the deadliest in years, and said Syria's patrons, Russia and Iran, bore "great moral responsibility" for the deaths.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 58 people died, including 11 children, in the early morning attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, which witnesses said was carried out by Sukhoi jets operated by the Russian and Syrian governments.

Videos from the scene showed volunteer medics using fire hoses to wash the chemicals from victims' bodies. 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 civil war.

Tuesday's attack drew swift condemnation from world leaders, including President Donald Trump, who denounced it as a "heinous" act that "cannot be ignored by the civilised world". The UN Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting for Wednesday in response to the strike, which came on the eve of a major international donors' conference in Brussels on the future of Syria and the region.

In a statement, Trump also blamed former President Barack Obama for "weakness" in failing to respond aggressively after the 2013 attack.

"These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the past administration's weakness and irresolution," Trump said.

"President Obama said in 2012 that he would establish a 'red line' against the use of chemical weapons and then did nothing. The United States stands with our allies across the globe to condemn this intolerable attack."

Photos and video emerging from Khan Sheikhoun, located south of the provincial capital of Idlib, showed the limp bodies of children and adults. Some were struggling to breathe; others appeared to be foaming at the mouth.

The activist-run Assi Press published video of paramedics carrying victims, stripped down to their underwear and many appearing unresponsive, from the scene in pickup trucks.

It was not immediately clear if all those killed died from suffocation or were struck by other airstrikes that occurred in the area around the same time.

It was the third claim of a chemical attack in just over a week in Syria. The previous two were reported in Hama province, in an area not far from Khan Sheikhoun.

– With AAP/NZN