The chief of the international chemical weapons watchdog said on Friday that he has a team of experts ready and willing to travel to the site of this month's deadly nerve gas incident in Syria if their safety can be assured.

The Syrian government has formally approached the United Nations to ask for it to send in experts to investigate the April 4 suspected chemical attack.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's sudden about-face on the Syrian gas attack last week had politics and appeasing the Americans written all over it, an expert in Middle Eastern policy says.