French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday called on the United Nations to urgently send inspectors to find out whether the Syrian government troops used chemical weapons in their attacks against rebel-held areas.

After a weekly cabinet meeting, the French government's spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said Hollande "has expressed his intention to ask the UN to go to site of the attack and to carry out an investigation."

Earlier on Wednesday, pro-opposition activists claimed that the Syrian government troops had used chemical weapons in their attacks against rebel-held areas in the eastern countryside of the Damascus and said hundreds of people were killed.

The Syrian government denied the allegations, saying such accusations were part of a "dirty" media war against Syria. Endi