Fifty-nine Tomahawk missiles targeted Shayrat airfield near Homs, Syria
President Trump said the attack was "in vital national security interest" of US
The action followed a suspected chemical weapons attack on civilians in a rebel-held town
The Syrian army says the strikes killed six and caused "extensive material damage"
Russia, a close Syrian ally, condemned the US "aggression" and suspended a joint air safety agreement
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An Aleppo MP, Fares Shehabi, warns that soldiers entering Syria without permission will be deemed "an invasion" and Syria will "act accordingly".
Speaking to Mark Mardell on Radio 4's World at One, the MP, a supporter of President Assad, said there was "no evidence" Syria had used chemical weapons.
Congressman Michael McCaul, who chairs the US House Homeland Security Committee, released the following statement:
"I commend President Trump’s decisive actions in Syria and fundamentally believe that the United States cannot and must not accept the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime on innocent civilians to become the norm. While the US would prefer a political rather than a military solution to this conflict, the fact remains that you cannot negotiate with tyrants. Passiveness in Syria is what has exacerbated this situation and allowed for adversaries such as Russia and Iran to exert their influence at the expense of US national security, all the while allowing ISIS [so-called Islamic State] to flourish. Tonight’s military strikes in Syria are a signal to the world that the days of blank threats are long gone and under this Administration credibility will be restored."
The strike comes amid Trump's first summit with China
Image source, ReutersHours before the strike Mr Trump dined with Chinese President Xi Jinping
Mr Trump is in Florida for weekend talks with the Chinese president.
10:00edt/15:00bst - Trump participates in bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
12:00edt/17:00bst - Holds "working luncheon" with the Chinese president.
Read more: Trump welcomes 'friend' China's Xi for talks
We're answering your questions on Syria
Sarin gas may have been used in the suspected chemical attack on Tuesday. In 2014 President Assad claimed to have destroyed Syria's stock of chemicals used in making sarin. However, this is now in doubt .
The Assad government has the ability and supply chain to produce nerve agent VX, according to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Tabun is another nerve agent, and was manufactured, external in large quantities in Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war.
The use of chemical warfare is banned .
The US missile strike on an airbase in central Syria early on Friday was "foolish and irresponsible", President Bashar al-Assad's office has said.
"What America did is nothing but foolish and irresponsible behaviour, which only reveals its short-sightedness and political and military blindness to reality," it said.
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From the Pentagon: "We are assessing the results of the strike. Initial indications are that this strike has severely damaged or destroyed Syrian aircraft and support infrastructure and equipment at Shayrat Airfield, reducing the Syrian Government's ability to deliver chemical weapons."
To recap, however, Russia has said the strikes were "ineffective" and that only 23 of the 59 missiles reached the airbase.
Image source, Syrian TV / ReutersSyrian state TV broadcast footage it said was of the airbase after the attack
Image source, Getty ImagesNato's Stoltenberg joined France and Germany in blaming President Assad
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the Syrian government "bears the full responsibility for this development".
"Any use of chemical weapons is unacceptable, cannot go unanswered, and those responsible must be held accountable".
Mr Stoltenberg was informed by the US defence minister that strikes would go ahead.
The Pentagon says 59 Tomahawk guided missiles were launched from the destroyers USS Porter and USS Ross in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, targeting aircraft, hardened aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage, ammunition supply bunkers, air defense systems and radars.
"As always, the US took extraordinary measures to avoid civilian casualties," the Pentagon said.
Mobile phone footage reportedly showing the missile strike against the Syrian air base has been shown on Syrian state TV.
We're answering your questions on Syria
The US has not reported that any Americans were killed or injured. The Syrian army said that six people were killed in the air strike. It is not known if they were civilians or from the military.
You can ask more questions here .
Image source, Getty ImagesThe Shayrat airfield, pictured here in October, is in the western Homs province
The Russian Defence Ministry has said that Syrian air defences will be boosted after the US airstrike on the Shayrat base.
"To protect the most sensitive infrastructure facilities in Syria a range of measures will be taken in the near future to strengthen and increase the efficiency of the Syrian armed forces' air defence," Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told journalists.
Nine civilians including four children were killed in the US missile attack on a Syrian airbase near the city of Homs on Friday, the Syrian state news agency Sana is reporting.
Sana said the civilians died in villages near the airbase and seven more people were wounded.
It is not clear whether this figure includes any of the six dead announced by the Syrian army earlier.
Separately, a Russian Defence Ministry spokesman said four Syrian soldiers had been killed in the airstrikes, two were still missing and six sustained burns.
Protesters in Ankara have been carrying symbolic coffins with pictures of the victims of the alleged chemical weapons attack and signs with the text "killer Assad and killer Putin". They demonstrated outside the Russian Embassy, shouting anti-Russia slogans.
Image source, ReutersBBC Business Reporter Lucy Hooker on the market reaction:
The price of oil rose sharply immediately following the US airstrikes on Syria. Syria may not be an oil exporter itself but investors see any trouble in the region as a potential threat to supplies. While the price has since fallen back a bit, the price of a barrel of oil is still around 1.5% higher.
Gold, seen as a safe investment in difficult times, also rose sharply.
And while some Asian share markets rose, most market indexes are now lower. Mid-morning London’s FTSE is down only 0.04% at 7301. But Frankfurt's Dax is 0.6% lower. Paris is down 0.4%.
For more follow our Business Live page .
We're answering your questions on Syria
In short, no. The UK Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said that Prime Minister Theresa May had been "informed throughout" but the UK was not asked to take part.
The government has said it "fully supports" the missile strike.
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Image source, EPAWorld leaders have been responding to US President Donald Trump's overnight missile strikes on a Syrian government air base suspected of launching a chemical attack on a rebel-held town on Tuesday.
The UK and Australian governments were among the first to voice their support in the early hours of Friday morning - while the Russians and Iranians sought to condemn the attack.
Read more here: World reaction to US missile attack
Syrian military officials appeared to anticipate Thursday's night raid on Syria, external 's Shayrat airbase, evacuating personnel and moving equipment ahead of the strike, according to an eyewitness to the strike, ABC News is reporting, external .
From BBC Monitoring:
The Russian Defence Ministry says the US airstrike was ineffective, the Russian news agency Interfax reports.
"According to Russian monitoring tools, only 23 missiles reached the Syrian airbase. It's not clear where the remaining 36 cruise missiles fell," Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov is quoted as saying.