US launches missile strike against Syria

The United States has launched cruise missile strikes on a government controlled air base in Syria -- in response to a chemical weapons attack it blames on President Bashar Assad.

Meli ya jeshi ya marekani USS Ross yafyatua kombora aina za tomahawk kutoka bahari la Mediterranian Source: AAP

US officials say nearly 60 Tomahawk missiles were fired from two warships in the Mediterranean Sea.

It's the first direct US assault on the Syrian government-- and Donald Trump's most dramatic military order since becoming President.

Dozens of Tomahawk missiles raining down on Syrian aircraft, an airstrip and fuel stations at the government -controlled Al-Sharyat airbase near Homs in the country's west. In a short statement, US President Donald Trump claimed this was the base from where a chemical attack was launched earlier this week-- killing dozens of civilians in northern Syria.

He says the man behind it -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Before the air strike, Russia and the US had already clashed at the United Nations Security Council over the wording of a draft resolution responding to the chemical attack.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the Security Council's inability to agree is 'scandalous'.