France is urging Russia to join a push for a political solution in Syria after joint US, French and British attacks on Syrian chemical weapons sites.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in an interview published today in the Journal du Dimanche newspaper that Russia should join their efforts to promote a political process in Syria that would allow a way out of the crisis.

France has continued to talk regularly with Russia even as East-West tensions have grown. French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, hours before the Western missile strikes.

Western countries blamed Syria's government for a chemical attack on a rebel-held area earlier this month that killed more than 40 people. The Syrian government and its ally Russia denied the allegations.

Meanwhile, International inspectors are to begin work today at the site near Damascus of an alleged chemical attack that prompted an unprecedented wave of Western strikes against Syria's regime.

A team of chemical experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in The Hague, reached Damascus hours after the strikes.

They have been tasked with investigating the site of an April 7 attack in the town of Douma, just east of the capital Damascus, which Western powers said involved chlorine and sarin and killed dozens.