'No child of God should ever suffer such horror': US military fires 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles on Trump's orders on Homs airfield where Syrian dictator Assad launched chemical attack

A U.S. Navy image shows the USS Ross (DDG 71) firing a tomahawk land attack missile at the Syrian air base

President Donald Trump launched a deadly US airstrike against a Syrian air base after a horrific nerve gas attack which killed more than 80 of his own citizens.

The US military fired 59 tomahawk missiles at the Bashar al-Assad controlled al-Shayrat military airfield near Homs at 8.45pm (EDT) on Thursday, killing at least five and injuring many more.

But the military action has already sparked a furious response from President Vladimir Putin, who this morning called the airstrikes an 'illegal act of aggression'. The Russian President, who has backed Assad militarily, warned of grave damage to relations between Washington and Moscow which are already 'in tatters'.

President Trump, speaking from his Mar-a-Lago estate where he is hosting the Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng as part of a two day summit, said the US had to act after the Syrian dictator launched the 'horrible chemical weapons attack' on innocent civilians.

'Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack,' he said. 'It was a slow and brutal death for so many.'

• The US military fired more than 50 tomahawk missiles at al-Shayrat military airfield at 8.45pm EDT Thursday
• Moves comes just hours after Trump said 'something should happen' following Tuesday's gas-attack atrocity
• Trump took action after more than 80 were killed and many were injured in the sarin poison gas attack
• 'Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack,' he said after launching the strike in an announcement from Mar-a-Lago where he's hosting China's President, 'It was a slow and brutal death' 
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a furious response calling airstrike an 'illegal act of aggression' 
• US says airfield was used to store toxic weapons and was the base for the aircraft involved in the sarin attack
• At least five were killed, and many more were injured, in the strike which has severely damaged or destroyed the aircraft and support infrastructure
• Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the US did not seek approval from Russia for the air strikes saying Moscow had been 'complicit or incompetent' in failing to stop chemical attacks in Syria 

President Donald Trump has launched a US airstrike against a Syrian air base after the gas atrocity which killed more than 80 people (pictured delivering a statement on Syria from the Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Florida, on April 6)

Smoke could be seen rising from the Homs airbase targeted by US missile strikes. The military action has already sparked a furious response from President Vladimir Putin, who this morning called the airstrikes an 'illegal act of aggression'

The strikes hit the government-controlled Shayrat air base in central Syria, where U.S. officials say the Syrian military planes that dropped the chemicals had taken off