RUSSIA’S refusal to allow an open-ended investigation into the Khan Sheikhoun chemical weapons attack on US terms has prevented a repetition of wars that tore Iraq and Libya apart, Syria’s UN ambassador has claimed.

Russia used its veto power to block a resolution seeking to extend the probe into claims that Syria’s military carried out the April 4 attack, which killed around 100 people.

US President Donald Trump ordered a huge — but ineffective — cruise missile attack on a Syrian air base following the massacre, which Russia and Syria say was a false-flag attack by extremists.