SENIOR US military officials say the Pentagon is looking into whether Russia participated in a chemical weapons attack that left at least 72 people dead in Syria.

The news come after Putin's Russia condemned the US president Donald Trump's airstrike that fired 60 missiles on a Syrian airbase.

5 Trump ordered a missile strike on a Syrian airbase that the US claims was used in a gas attack that left at least 27 children dead Credit: AP:Associated Press

5 Vladimir Putin has criticised the USA for ordering the strike on Russia's ally Syria Credit: Alamy

US officials had earlier said the base had been used to launch the horrific sarin gas attack that has drawn condemnation from world leaders.

Putin, an ally of Syria's brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad, has rubbished claims that the country's government ordered the assault.

Russia has promised to strengthen Syria's anti-aircraft defences after the US bombing.

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Earlier today the US threatened to take further military action in Syria if it is deemed necessary.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley told the UN Security Council: "The United States took a very measured step last night.

"We are prepared to do more, but we hope it will not be necessary."

The Security Council was meeting in an emergency session to discuss the US actions in Syria that Russia branded a "flagrant violation of international law and an act of aggression" against Syria.

5 A father clutching his two dead twins is likely to be one of the enduring images of the mass killing in Syria

5 The Pentagon has released footage of missiles being launched from US navy ships targeted at a Syrian airfield Credit: Reuters

Haley said the air strikes destroyed an air field from which the United States believes the chemical attacks on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun were launched.

At least 72 people including at least 27 children died in Khan Sheikhun in an attack the United States has blamed Assad.

Haley said: "The United States will no longer wait for Assad to use chemical weapons without any consequences.

"Those days are over."

While threatening further strikes, the US envoy also said it was time to press on with a political solution to the six-year war.

Haley again took a swipe at Russia for failing to reign in its ally and said Moscow must reconsider its support for Assad.

5 An aerial shot shows the al-Shayrat airbase near Homs In Syria that was bombed by the US Credit: EPA

She said: "The world is waiting for the Russian government to act responsibly in Syria. The world is waiting for Russia to reconsider its misplaced alliance with Bashar al-Assad."

The United States fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles from warships in the Mediterranean at the Shayrat airfield.

The strike - Trump's biggest military decision since taking office - marked a dramatic escalation in American involvement in Syria's six-year civil war.

It followed days of outrage at images of dead children and victims suffering convulsions from the suspected sarin gas attack in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun.

Britain's Defence Secretary Michael Fallon joined others around the world in praising the US airstrike on Syria.

Crackpot dictator Kim Jong-un has said North Korea is on "the brink of war" with the the US as a defector urged Trump to have him assassinated.

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