BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's Information Minister Omran al-Zoabi said on Tuesday the country's armed forces would never use internationally banned weapons, after the government and rebels traded blame for what both sides said was a chemical weapon attack near Aleppo.

"Syria's army leadership has stressed this before and we say it again, if we had chemical weapons we would never use them due to moral, humanitarian and political reasons," Zoabi said in a televised news conference.

"Our armed forces absolutely could not use, not now, nor at any time, nor in the past, any weapon banned by international law."

(reporting by Erika Solomon; Editing by Janet Lawrence)