Italy wants the perpetrators of a deadly chemical attack on civilians in northern Syria to be "brought to justice", foreign minister Angelino Alfano said in Brussels on the sidelines of a conference on the war-wracked Middle Eastern country's future.
"Italy has taken a very firm line on the necessity of bringing to justice those who are responsible for what are nothing less than war crimes," Alfano stated.
"We need to find the way to set up an independent authority that is capable of punishing the perpetrators," he said.
Britain and France requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday amid mounting international outrage over Tuesday's attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun that allegedly killed 72 people among them 20 children.
The UK's foreign secretary, a rebel commander and a weapons expert all said the evidence to date pointed to an attack by Syrian government forces - claims denied by Damascus and by Moscow.
