US President Donald Trump has ordered dozens of air strikes on the Syrian military air base in response to the recent chemical attack in Idlib province.
The military installation at Shayrat targeted in the strike is thought to the base of the war planes that dropped chemical weapons on the town of Khan Sheikhun earlier this week, which left at least 58 people dead.
The US launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles from Navy destroyers USS Porter and USS Ross in the Mediterranean, in the first US military strike on a Syrian military target since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
According to the Pentagon, the US trikes targeted aircraft, aircraft hangers, fuel storage areas, ammunition supply bunkers, and air defence systems at the Syrian government-controlled facility in western Homs. At least six people are reported to have been killed.
Russia, which supports Assad in the conflict and has blocked various UN Security Council resolutions against Assad, have condemned the attack.
Russian forces were notified in advance of the strike using the established deconfliction line to avoid Russian casualties, say Pentagon officials.
