DAMASCUS: Syria denied on Wednesday carrying out chemical weapons attacks against rebel-held areas, denouncing recent accusations by the United States and France as “lies.”

“Syria condemns all the lies and allegations by the American and French foreign ministers about chemical weapons use in Syria,” a foreign ministry official told state news agency SANA.

Twenty-one people were treated for respiratory problems after rockets were fired on the rebel bastion of Eastern Ghouta outside Damascus on Monday, which residents and medical sources said contained chlorine.

In response, 24 governments approved a new “partnership against impunity” for the use of toxic weapons at a meeting in Paris on Tuesday.

Speaking after the meeting, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Damascus ally Moscow must be held responsible for the “apparent chemical attack.”

“Whoever conducted the attacks, Russia ultimately bears responsibility for the victims in East Ghouta and countless other Syrians targeted with chemical weapons, since Russia became involved in Syria,” Tillerson told reporters.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who chaired the meeting, said perpetrators “will not go unpunished.”

And France announced sanctions against 25 people and companies it said were linked to Syria’s alleged chemical weapons. Syria has staunchly denied the claims, pointing to its 2013 handover of its chemical stores as part of a deal between the United States and Russia.

That agreement came after accusations that Damascus used sarin gas on Eastern Ghouta in August 2013.

“Syria has constantly cooperated and provided the conditions to carry out an honest, objective, and professional investigation into chemical weapons use,” the foreign ministry official said.

“But the clique of Western imperialists always impeded it,” the official added.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin on Wednesday accused Washington of trying to complicate international efforts to probe the use of chemical weapons in Syria and rejected accusations it was responsible for recent attacks.

“We categorically disagree with the approach of the Americans who have essentially muddied the real investigation of previous instances” of Syria chemical attacks, said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov.