German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande issued a joint statement in response to the US air strike.

It said: "President Assad alone bears the responsibility for this development. His repeated use of chemical weapons and his crimes against his own people demand sanctions which France and Germany already asked for in the summer 2013 after the massacre at Ghouta.

"France and Germany, together with their partners and in the framework of the UN, will continue their efforts to hold President Assad responsible for his crimes."

They are calling on the international community to do "everything to implement Resolution 2254 of the UN Security Council for a political transition in Syria."

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says he has no information about any casualties among Russian military personnel. 

"By all accounts, there weren’t any", he added.

More from Russian journalist Yevgeny Poddubny, who has access to the bombed airbase for the news channel Rossiya 24.

He says nine Syrian military aircraft were destroyed. The covered hangars containing the aircraft had been struck. He said the runway was not damaged but is strewn with shrapnel.

Image source, EPA

Russia will not hit back at the US strike by escalating military action in Syria, Russia's government newspaper website Rossiiskaya Gazeta, external has reported.

The deputy speaker of the State Duma, Pyotr Tolstoy, told the assembly at a full session: “How can we respond? Of course not by escalating military actions, not with Iskanders [type of short-range ballistic missile], though of course that’s an important part of our forces. 

"Yet that’s not where our strength lies – our strength is in our own understanding of the logic of events.”

The website said Mr Tolstoy called for “calm and logical action in defence of international law, justice".

A spokesman for Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the US strike was a positive response to "war crimes" in Syria.

Ibrahim Kalin said it was now necessary to enforce a no-fly zone and create safe zones in Syria without delay.

 He added: "The destruction of Sharyat airbase marks an important step to ensure that chemical and conventional attacks against the civilian population do not go unpunished."

The Polish government has backed US strike action against Syria.

Government spokesman Rafal Bochenek told the broadcaster TVP Info that "Assad has crossed a boundary - he used chemical weapons against civilians". 

He added: "We hope that the action the US has taken will stabilise the situation."

Mr Bochenek said Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo would discuss the US actions in Syria with Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski and Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz on Friday.

Evgeny Poddubnyy, external , a reporter for the news channel Russia 24 has exclusive access inside the base and is posting images and video to Instagram, external . 

He says not all the planes have been destroyed, and that initial reports suggest nine burnt up in their hangars.

BBC World

Image source, BBC News

Syrian journalist Thabet Salem told BBC World that communication from Syrian activists is rare and only one line has reached him this morning.

He said: "One line doesn't give much, but there are reports: the activists who are in the north of Syria say there are about 14 planes [which] were destroyed, in addition to the tarmacs, and depots etc.  So if that’s true then it’s a considerable strike.

He added: "The important thing, I think in my view is: 'Is this strike going to be the opening step for a solution in the country, in Syria?'.  Syria has been suffering for six years now – the toll of deaths, and killed and displaced [people] is huge. 

"The idea is that we hope that this will be the first step towards a political settlement and a solution to this crisis that has taken a lot of lives".

A key indicator of the impact of the US airstrikes on US-Russia relations will be whether the planned visit by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Moscow next week will still go ahead.

The head of the Russian lower house of parliament's international affairs committee, Leonid Slutsky, thinks it will.

"I don't think this will impact Tillerson's visit, we need to restore dialogue. We should welcome Tillerson, exchange views and try to talk sense into Washington," he told the Russia 24 television channel, according to Russian news agencies. "That's much better than hiding behind walls."

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Homs governor Talal Barazi has given a stinging rebuke to the US missile attacks on Syria and said it won't stop the government's actions. 

He told the Today programme that he wasn't "surprised" at "America and Israel supporting this terrorism"  

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Sir Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, has said the UK government is in full support of the missile strike carried out by the US in Syria. 

Sir Michael said the UK was not asked to get involved militarily but they had been informed of the decision to go ahead with the strike. He said it was a "very limited and appropriate action".

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

BBC Moscow Correspondent Steve Rosenberg says:

The Kremlin has described the airstrikes as "active aggression", violating international norms on an "invented premise" and said it will do considerable damage to US-Russian relations, which spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted were already in a very poor state.

Just a couple of months ago there was a sense of elation here in political circles that Donald Trump had been elected president. Finally here was a president who had been saying nice things about President Putin and was talking about boosting relations with Russia. He was depicted in state-run media almost as a fairy tale figure, a knight in shining armour who was going to ride to the rescue of US-Russia relations.

All of that has gone now really. This morning we’ve been hearing a lot of criticism of Mr Trump. One pro-government radio station said it was clear he had not beaten Hillary Clinton in last year’s election because the military scenario we’re seeing is hers.

The Reuters news agency is reporting that Russia's foreign ministry has said it is suspending an air safety agreement with the US.

The deal is meant to help the two powers avoid clashes between their air forces in the skies over Syria.

Six people were killed in the strike, which led to big material losses, the Syrian army says in a statement.

It says its response will be to continue to "crush terrorism" and restore "peace and security to all Syria".

British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon tells the BBC the British government had close contact with the US at all levels over the airstrikes. He says the airstrikes were designed very carefully to avoid involving Russians located in Syria, and to deter future chemical attacks.

"One of the purposes of this very limited and appropriate action was to deter the regime from using gas in this appalling way," he said.