Furious Vladimir Putin has called the US airstrikes on Syria an 'illegal act of aggression' and suspended a deal to avoid mid-air clashes with American fighter jets over the war-torn country.

The Russian President warned of grave damage to relations between Washington and Moscow after 60 Tomahawk missiles were fired at al-Shayrat airbase near Homs.

Syrian Army officials described the attack as an act of 'blatant aggression', saying it had made the US 'a partner' of ISIS, the ex-Nusra Front and other 'terrorist organisations'.

The US insists the base was used by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces to launch a deadly chemical attack that killed 80 on Tuesday.

America used a special military-to-military hotline to warn Russia it was launching an airstrike on a Syrian air base about 30 minutes in advance - but the Trump administration did not ask Moscow for permission. It is likely Russia alerted the Syrians about the incoming strikes but this has not been confirmed.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured on Tuesday) believes that the missile strikes on a Syrian air base broke international law and have seriously hurt US-Russia relations

The United States fired dozens of cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase from which it said a deadly chemical weapons attack was launched this week

Pictures show rubble strewn across the airfield at the Syrian military base this morning. The Syrian Army called it an '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

Russian warship the Admiral Grigorovich - armed with cruise missiles and a self-defence system - is docking in Syria today after it was immediately diverted from the Black Sea. It is pictured sailing in the Bosphorus past Istanbul, Turkey, on its way to the Mediterranean

Syria’s state agency SANA claimed that the missiles killed nine civilians, including four children, even though the bombarded the airbase in the middle of the night.

Putin said the missile strikes broke international law and has halted an agreement with the US aimed at avoiding clashes between their forces in the skies over Syria.

This morning, he diverted a warship to protect the Syrian coast and vowed to bolster Bashar al-Assad's missile defences against further US strikes as fears grew the crisis could topple into war between Russia and the West.

The Russian President has immediately sent his Admiral Grigorovich frigate - armed with cruise missiles and a self-defence system - from the Black Sea to dock in Syria.

It will pass through the east Mediterranean waters where the USS Ross and USS Porter fired the 59 Tomahawk missiles that pounded Assad's al-Shayrat military airfield near Homs in the early hours of Friday.

The Russian leader regarded the U.S. action as 'aggression against a sovereign nation' on a 'made-up pretext' and as a cynical attempt to distract the world from civilian deaths in Iraq, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov was cited as saying.

'We call upon the UN Security Council to hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss the situation,' the foreign ministry in Moscow said in a statement, calling the strike a 'gross... violation of international law.'

Facing his biggest foreign policy crisis since his January 20 inauguration, President Donald Trump (pictured) took the toughest direct US action yet in Syria's six-year-old civil war, raising the risk of confrontation with Russia and Iran, Assad's two main military backers

A US-launched missile heads for the al-Shayrat military airfield near Homs in Syria on Thursday night where it caused severe damage to military aircraft and weapons

Almost 60 tomahawk missiles were launched from the USS Ross (DDG 71) (pictured) on Thursday evening in retaliation to a gas attack in Syria

The U.S. missiles hit at 8:45 p.m. in Washington, early morning Friday in Syria

About 60 of theses US Tomahawk missiles launched early Friday hit the Shayrat air base, southeast of the city of Homs, a small installation with two runways

Two U.S. warships fired 59 cruise missiles from the eastern Mediterranean Sea at the Syrian airbase controlled by forces of President Bashar al-Assad in response to a poison gas attack in a rebel-held area on Tuesday, US officials said.

Facing his biggest foreign policy crisis since his January 20 inauguration, President Donald Trump took the toughest direct US action yet in Syria's six-year-old civil war, raising the risk of confrontation with Russia and Iran, Assad's two main military backers.

'Years of previous attempts at changing Assad's behaviour have all failed and failed very dramatically,' Trump said as he announced the attack from his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, where he was meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The Russian propaganda machine quickly clicked into gear and claimed the airstrike had been ineffective.

Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said: 'According to Russian monitoring tools, only 23 missiles reached the Syrian airbase. It's not clear where the remaining 36 cruise missiles fell.'

Politicians in Russia also also claimed the news of a chemical attack was 'fake' in order to provide a pretext for military action.

Pictures taken today show a sign with the name of the village of Shayrat at its entrance, near the Syrian government forces military base which was targeted earlier overnight by US Tomahawk cruise missiles

Aftermath: Syrian shepherds tend their flock near the damaged Shayrat airfield this afternoon

Images of the airbase taken today show how some of the shelters were damaged in the missile strikes

The Russian leader regarded the U.S. action as 'aggression against a sovereign nation' on a 'made-up pretext' and as a cynical attempt to distract the world from civilian deaths in Iraq, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov was cited as saying

Elsewhere, Syrian state media claimed four children were among nine civilians killed - even though the US strike bombarded the airbase in the middle of the night.

The Kremlin claimed that the Syrian armed forces do not possess chemical weapons, saying this has been confirmed by Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) .

'The fact of the destruction of all chemical weapons stockpiles has been recorded and confirmed by the OPCW, a specialized UN unit,' said Peskov.

'At the same time, in Putin's opinion, total disregard for the use of chemical weapons by terrorists only drastically aggravates the situation.'

He said: 'Putin also sees the attacks on Syria by the US as an attempt to divert the international community's attention from the numerous casualties among civilians in Iraq.'

The spokesman warned: 'This move by Washington is causing substantial damage to Russian-US relations, which are in tatters as it is.'

The UN-backed ceasefire taskforce on Syria will meet today at Russia's request, the United Nations' special envoy for Syria said, after the United States struck a regime airbase overnight.

'An emergency meeting of the ISSG (International Syria Support Group) Ceasefire Taskforce will take place later today,' the office of special envoy Staffan de Mistura said. 'The meeting, which will be chaired by the Special Envoy, was requested by the Russian Federation co-chair and agreed upon by the United States co-chair.'

Trump ordered the strikes a day after he blamed Assad for this week's chemical attack, which killed at least 70 people, many of them children, in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun. The Syrian government has denied it was behind the attack.

The guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) launches a tomahawk land attack missile in the Mediterranean Sea

Smoke rises from the deck of the USS Porter as the United States blasted a Syrian air base with a barrage of cruise missiles in fiery retaliation for this week's gruesome chemical weapons attack against civilians.

The Tomahawk missiles were launched from the USS Porter and USS Ross around 8:40 p.m. EDT (0040 GMT on Friday), striking multiple targets - including the airstrip, aircraft and fuel stations - on the Shayrat Air Base, which the Pentagon says was used to store chemical weapons.

'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,' said Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis.

At least four Syrian soldiers, including a senior officer, were killed in the attack, which almost completely destroyed the base, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov says no Russian servicemen have been hurt.

PUTIN RIPS UP DEAL THAT PROTECTS PILOTS OVER SYRIA A communication link between U.S. and Russian military officials has protected pilots flying missions over the crowded skies of war-ravaged Syria, but now Moscow says it is suspending its cooperation over an American missile strike. The following is an explanation of the so-called 'deconfliction line' and the possible consequences of cutting it. FLYING THE UNFRIENDLY SKIES A U.S.-led coalition has been bombing ISIS-held territory across Syria, launching 24 strikes on Thursday alone, according to the U.S. military's Central Command. The coalition includes some 60 countries, with some launching their own strikes into Syria. Russia is waging its own bombing campaign in support of President Bashar Assad's forces, while the Syrian government has its own air force and air defense systems. That means a lot of aircraft are flying in a small airspace, which raises the danger for pilots. In November 2015, for instance, NATO member Turkey shot down a Russian jet fighter, nearly sparking an international conflagration. WATCHING THE WAR FROM QATAR To protect pilots, Russia and the U.S. opened a so-called 'deconfliction line' in late 2015. On the U.S. side, it is run out of the Combined Air and Space Operations Center at the vast al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which hosts the forward headquarters of U.S. Central Command. There, air traffic controllers and senior military officers are in contact with their Russian counterparts in Syria. They share coordinates and other data to avoid midair collisions or confrontations. One U.S. pilot flying missions over Syria credited his safety to it in a recent Associated Press interview . MISSILE STRIKES AND NEW WARNINGS On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a missile strike on the Shayrat air base, southeast of Homs, over a chemical weapons attack he blamed on Syria's government. The U.S. used the 'deconfliction line' to warn Russia ahead of time that the strike was coming. In the aftermath of the attack, which Syria said killed at least seven people, Russia announced it would suspend its cooperation in the information-sharing campaign. Russia still has several dozen warplanes and batteries of air defense missiles at its base near Latakia, Syria. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? U.S. Central Command and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment over the Russian decision. The U.S. maintains radar coverage and has other surveillance means to know who is in the air. However, ending the cooperation will mean U.S. and coalition pilots will be flying into Syrian airspace not knowing if Russian forces plan their own operations in the same places. Airwars, a nonprofit monitoring airstrikes in the war against the Islamic State group, noted that U.S.-led attacks typically focus on areas away from Russian activity, though ending the cooperation represents 'a worrying development.' Advertisement

Lavrov, speaking on a trip to Uzbekistan, strongly condemned the U.S. strike saying it violates international law.

Russian state TV aired footage showing the damage from the U.S. strikes at the Syrian air base. It showed craters and pockmarks left by explosions and said that nine Syrian air force jets have been destroyed in the attack.

The U.S. cruise missile attack was a 'one-off,' a U.S. defense official told Reuters, meaning it was expected to be a single strike with no current plans for escalation.

A communication link between the U.S. and Russia used to protect their pilots flying sorties over Syria was used ahead of an American missile strike on the country.

The so-called 'deconfliction line' is operated by the U.S. military's Central Command at the sprawling al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar. It serves as a crucial link to make sure the increasingly crowded Syrian airspace doesn't see any accidental collisions or attacks on each other.

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'

Pictures show the aftermath of the US missile attack on the al-Shayrat airbase in Syria this morning with one of the hangars reduced to rubble

Syrian military says the U.S. missile attack on one of its air bases in central Syria has killed six and caused extensive damage, calling it an aggression that undermines Damascus' counter terrorism operations. An ambulance is pictured at the scene this morning

Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis says: 'U.S. military planners took precautions to minimize risk to Russian or Syrian personnel located at the airfield' targeted in Syria's Homs province. U.S. Central Command did not immediately respond to an Associated Press query on specifics of how the line was used.

Syrian state TV said that 'American aggression' had targeted a Syrian military base with 'a number of missiles and cited a Syrian military source as saying the strike had 'led to losses.'

Trump sought to cast the attack, which took place as he and Xi were wrapping up a dinner of Dover sole and dry-aged New York strip steak, as an effort to deter Syria from using chemical weapons in the future.

'Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians,' he said later. 'Tonight I ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched.'

'It is in this vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons,' Trump added.

Trump aides described his action as a measured and targeted response and suggested the wider U.S. strategy, which has been to avoid getting dragged into the civil war, would not change.

Two US warships fired 59 cruise missiles from the eastern Mediterranean Sea at the Syrian airbase controlled by forces of President Bashar al-Assad in response to a poison gas attack in a rebel-held area on Tuesday, US officials said

Trump ordered the strikes a day after he blamed Assad (left with Putin in 2015) for this week's chemical attack, which killed at least 70 people, many of them children, in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun. The Syrian government has denied it was behind the attack

'We feel the strike itself was proportionate,' U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters.

'This clearly indicates the president is willing to take decisive action when called for,' he added. 'I would not in any way attempt to extrapolate that to a change in our policy or our posture relative to our military activities in Syria today. There has been no change in that status.'

According to a U.S. defense official, Trump first asked about possible military action on Wednesday, after U.S. intelligence agencies confirmed that Syrian aircraft based at the al Shayrat airbase had dropped Sarin gas on civilians.

Planning began on Wednesday and accelerated at the Pentagon, the State Department and the White House on Thursday, helped by the fact that the Defense Department had numerous off-the-shelf plans, including for cruise missile strikes on Syrian airfields.

'It was a matter of dusting those off and adapting them for the current target set and timing,' the official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The relatively quick response to the chemical attack came as Trump faced a growing list of global problems, from North Korea and China to Iran and Islamic State, and may have been intended to send a message to friends and foes alike of his resolve to use military force if deemed necessary.

Russia finally condemned the ghastly chemical weapons attack on Thursday despite being allied with Bashar al-Assad against Islamist rebels in Syria

Heartbreak: Disturbing footage shows Syrian father Abdul Hamid al-Yousef crying uncontrollably over the graves of his wife and two children who were killed in a suspected sarin gas attack this week

'One question is whether Russia will respond in any meaningful way,' said a senior U.S. official involved in planning the raid. 'If they do, they will be further complicit in the actions of the Syrian regime.'

Russia has air and ground forces in Syria after intervening there on Assad's side in 2015 and turning the tide against mostly Sunni Muslim rebel groups.

Trump has so far focused his Syria policy almost exclusively on defeating Islamic State militants in northern Syria, where U.S. special forces support Arab and Kurdish armed groups.

Iran, which also backs Assad, denounced the attack.

'Iran ... condemns use of chemical weapons ... but at the same time believes it is dangerous, destructive and violation of international laws to use it as an excuse to take unilateral actions,' Students News Agency ISNA quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi as saying.

Tomahawk: US fires its most advanced missile that flies low, avoids radar then obliterates its targets A Tomahawk cruise missile flies toward Iraq from the cruiser USS San Jacinto The Tomahawk is the US military's most advanced missile, which map-reads its way to the enemy, hugging contours in the landscape and using an on-board camera to pinpoint its target. First fired in anger during the Gulf War by the US, Tomahawks cruise at low altitude and follow a complicated route to avoid being tracked by radar. The American-made missile can be fired from a submarine, ship or B-52 bombers and can carry nuclear or conventional warheads. They blast off with the aid of a rocket, then switch to a small turbofan engine to cruise to their targets - hence the name. The fan emits little heat, making it hard to be spotted by infrared detectors. During flight, the cruise missile compares its view of the landscape with a stored map reference to continually correct its course. It has a range of up to 1,500 miles. The weapon is perfect for the Middle East because the terrain is very flat. As the missile nears its target, another system kicks in which compares a stored image of the target with the actual target, which the military claims ensures a high level of accuracy. At £1 million each, the one-ton missiles do not come cheap. Advertisement

But the strikes have won broad international support with officials saying that Canada and other allies were behind the move.

Britain backed the US missile strike, describing it as an 'appropriate response', as the government offered its full support to Trump's targeted assault.

A No 10 spokeswoman said: 'The UK Government fully supports the US action, which we believe was an appropriate response to the barbaric chemical weapons attack launched by the Syrian regime, and is intended to deter further attacks.'

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande said Syrian president Assad bore 'sole responsibility' for the US strike on a regime airbase.

In a joint statement on Friday, they said: 'After the chemical weapons massacre of April 4 on Khan Sheikhun in northwestern Syria, a military installation of the Syrian regime was destroyed by a US air strike last night.

'President Assad bears sole responsibility for this development.'

Hollande added that the US strike was what France had been calling for in the wake of another chemical attack in 2013.

Both he and Merkel said their countries would continue to work with UN partners in 'efforts to hold President Assad responsible for his criminal acts.'

Israel welcomed the move.

'In both word and action, President Trump sent a strong and clear message today that the use and spread of chemical weapons will not be tolerated,' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

U.S. lawmakers had a mixed reaction, with some criticizing Trump's decision to use force without getting their approval.

'Congress will work with the president, but his failure to seek congressional approval is unlawful,â said Senator Tim Kaine, the 2016 Democratic vice presidential candidate.

The U.N. Security Council was expected to hold closed-door consultations on Friday about the U.S. strike on Syria following a request by Bolivia, an elected member of the council, a senior Security Council diplomat said.