CAIRO (AFP) - Arab foreign ministers will meet in Cairo on Sunday to discuss Syria, Arab League deputy chief Ahmed Ben Helli said on Saturday, as the United States appeared to be readying a strike on the country.

A routine meeting had been scheduled for Tuesday, but was advanced "in light of rapid developments in the Syria situation and based on the request of several Arab states", Mr Ben Helli told reporters.

On Tuesday, the Arab League accused the Syrian regime of carrying out chemical weapons attacks in Damascus suburbs last week.

Permanent representatives condemned the "horrible crime carried out with internationally prohibited chemical weapons" and put the "entire responsibility" on President Bashar al-Assad's regime.