The launch of air strikes on Syria will negatively impact peace talks, a spokeswoman for Russia's foreign ministry has said, according to the state-run RIA news agency.

Maria Zakharova said: "This action gives a strong signal to extremists and militants that they are doing right things."

Image source, EPA

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has condemned the US-led airstrikes on Syria, saying "US attacks in the Middle East have no effect other than annihilation and devastation".

At a meeting on Saturday with Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he said Western forces "want to justify their presence in the region with this attack".

• The US, UK and France have carried out air and missile strikes in Syria in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack last Saturday
• President Trump said the allies had "marshalled their righteous power against barbarism and brutality"
• The US says three targets were struck - a research facility in Damascus and storage facilities near Homs
• Russia said missiles were also aimed at other targets but many were intercepted by air defences
• Vladimir Putin said the air strikes were an “act of aggression” and called for an urgent UN meeting. Russia's US ambassador, Anatoly Antonov, said the strikes would "not be left without consequences"
• Syrian state media called the air strikes "a flagrant violation of international law"
• PM May said the air strikes were "both right and legal" and there had been "no alternative".
• Mrs May also linked the suspected chemical weapons attack in Douma to the nerve agent attack on a Russian ex-spy and his daughter in the UK, saying they showed a "pattern of disregard for chemical weapons norms"

Footage shows cruise missiles being launched from a ship in an unknown location and French Rafale jets taking off. France joined the US and the UK targeting chemical weapons sites in the biggest military action against President Assad so far.

The PM said the use of chemical weapons could not be allowed, as she justified the UK's participation in military action.

Israel has issued a statement about the air strikes on Syria:

"Last year, President Trump made clear that the use of chemical weapons crosses a red line. Tonight, under American leadership, the United States, France and the United Kingdom enforced that line.

"Syria continues to engage in and provide a base for murderous actions, including those of Iran, that put its territory, its forces and its leadership at risk."

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Russia's defence ministry says preliminary information suggests that there were no civilian or military casualties in the air strikes.

It says 71 of a total of 103 cruise missiles were intercepted by Syrian air defences. All the cruise missiles fired at four airfields were shot down while more than half of the missiles shot at two further airfields were also shot down.

Image source, AFP/Getty

Asked by German media why the UK did not wait for an international investigation into last week's suspected chemical weapons attack in Douma before launching air strikes, Mrs May said the UK had made its own assessment of what had taken place in Douma.

Investigators from the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) are due to investigate the suspected attack in Douma, which Russia has said was fabricated.

Syrian, Russian and Iranian officials have suggested that the air strikes were an attempt to derail the OPCW investigation.

"We have made every effort over past week to assess what has happened on the ground," Mrs May said.

She said earlier in her press conference that she could not release all details of the British assessment, but said publicly available reports said a helicopter had dropped a barrel bomb on the area and only the Syrian government had access to helicopters and used barrel bombs.

"This is not the only attack that has taken place and the reason for our action isn't simply about what happened in Douma, it's about a wider pattern," she said.

"I think it was important that at the point where we had the information that we took the action that was necessary."

Asked if the UK communicated with Russia before launching the strikes in Syria, Prime Minister Theresa May said she had not.

"That is not something the UK has been involved in", she said.

"Full and proper planning was taken before this action to ensure that we could minimise the impact on civilians."

Images that are reported to be of destroyed missiles have been shown by the pro-government satellite news channel, Al-Ikhbariyah al-Suriyah.

According to the state channel, the footage was filmed in Homs countryside.

Image source, Al-Ikhbariyah al-Suriyah

Image source, Al-Ikhbariyah al-Suriyah

Image source, Al-Ikhbariyah al-Suriyah

The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has expressed support for the Syria air strikes, calling them "necessary and appropriate" to warn President Assad against further use of chemical weapons.

Last week, Ms Merkel ruled out German participation in military strikes on Syria, but said: "We see and support that everything is done to send a signal that this use of chemical weapons is not acceptable."

Image source, Getty Images

Whitehall officials say the aim of launching strikes against Syria has been to deal a big enough blow to the Assad regime that it deters it from using chemical weapons again, but not so big as to alter the course of the Syrian conflict or draw retaliation from Russia.

Planners took the view that the limited US missile strike on Shayrat airbase a year ago had failed to dissuade the Assad regime from using poison gas.

Before the green light was given by the Prime Minister for RAF participation in today's attack the Defence Secretary spent time with the Attorney General going over the legality of the targeting in precise detail.

I am told that the lessons of the Chilcot Report (into the mistakes made over the Iraq invasion of 2003) have been uppermost in people's minds.

Decisions, phone calls and sign-offs made over the last few days may one day have to be scrutinised by lawyers. Russia too has been a major factor in choosing which targets to attack.

Planners believe that the best way to mitigate against any Russian retaliation was to warn them in advance and avoid hitting any Russian positions in Syria.

Theresa May said she will make a statement on the air strikes in Parliament on Monday but defended her decision to take action.

She said: "I believe it was right to take the action that we have done in the timescale that we have done in relation to the assessment and operational security."

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson says the RAF strikes sent a clear message to the Assad regime.

He told Radio 4's Today Programme that the strikes "degraded" President Assad's chemical weapons capabilities.

He added that all the RAF crews involved in air strikes in Syria overnight had returned safely.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has linked the suspected use of chemical weapons in Syria with a suspected nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy and his daughter in the UK.

"These strikes are about deterring the barbaric use of chemical weapons in Syria and beyond," she said.

She called for global norms prohibiting the use of chemical weapons to be strengthened.

"The use of nerve agent on the streets of UK in recent weeks was part of a pattern of disregard for these norms," she said.

"This will also send a clear signal to anyone else who believes they can use chemical weapons with impunity."

"We would have preferred an alternative path but on this occasion there is none. We cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalised, either in Syria or in Britain or elsewhere," she added.

Read more:

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British Prime Minister Theresa may is holding a news conference on the Western air strikes on Syria.

She said no group other than the Syrian government could have carried out a suspected chemical weapons attack in Douma last week.

"We know that the Syrian regime has an abhorrent record of using chemical weapons against its own people," she said.

She said it was "both right and legal" to take action against the Syrian government but it was not about interfering in the Syrian civil war.

The streets of Damascus are as busy as normal.

Soldiers at checkpoints are relaxed and security checks are not more intense than they usually are.

Shops are open and people are going to work. Dozens of Syrians are gathering in the main square in Damascus near the Syrian TV building chanting for Syria, for the Army and for President Assad.

They say they want to tell President Trump that they are not afraid of him and that nothing will change their support for the Army and President.

Most of them say they were expecting this attack and they don’t think that there will be another one.

Image source, AFP

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Russian President Vladimir Putin has condemned Western air strikes on Russia's ally Syria "in the most serious way" and said Russia would call for an urgent UN meeting.

In a statement carried on Russian state TV, Mr Putin said striking Syria was an "act of aggression".

He said a suspected chemical weapons attack in the town of Douma last week had been staged and used as a pretext for the attack.