
Syrian state television has broadcast footage showing the ruins of a chemical weapons research centre near Damascus hit during the air strikes.

Pentagon officials say the attacks targeted the heart of Syrian President Bashar Assad's programs to develop and produce chemical weapons.

The Syrian military says more than 100 missiles were fired against a military base in Syria's central Homs province and the research centre in Barzeh, near Damascus.

A Syrian soldier films the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center which was attacked by U.S., British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians

A photograph released by the Syrian official news agency SANA which shows the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Centre

Another image of the damage caused to the Syrian Scientific Research Centre

Wreckage of a building thought to be the Scientific Studies and Research Centre compound in the Barzeh district

The wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus, during a press tour organised by the Syrian information ministry

The rubble left from the air strikes on a Syrian target in the Barzeh district near Damascus

The mangled remains of the wreckage lie in a heap on the ground

A huge chunk of this building had been reduced to rubble by a co-ordinated strike by allied forces

The missiles were launched by the US, UK and France in the early hours of Saturday morning

The Pentagon claims that none of the missiles which the US launched at its targets were intercepted by Syrian air defences

Fireman extinguish smoke that rises from the damage of the Syrian Scientific Research Center which was attacked by US, British and French military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in Barzeh,

A Syrian soldier inspects the wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) compound in the Barzeh district

Syrian Red Crescent members wait for vehicles carrying Jaish al-Islam fighters and their family members evacuated from the Eastern Ghouta town of Douma

Syrian government forces wait for vehicles carrying Jaish al-Islam fighters and their family members evacuated from the Eastern Ghouta town of Douma

The Scientific Research Center building that was hit by the strikes that were launched on 14 April 2018 by the United States, Britain and France in Barzeh neighborhood in Damascus, Syria, in retaliation for an alleged chemical attack

Syrian government forces wait for vehicles carrying Jaish al-Islam fighters and their family members evacuated from Eastern Ghouta

The wreckage left after an airstrike took down the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus

In the images shown on Al-Ikhbariya piles of rubble outside a destroyed building and a burned vehicle are visible.

The Syrian military says the attack on the centre destroyed an educational center and labs.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Marine General Joseph Dunford said three main chemical weapons facilities were targeted by both missiles from the sea and fired from aircraft, which triggered Syrian air defences.

The United States and its allies waged up to 120 air strikes on Syria on Friday in a 'one time shot' that the Pentagon said followed conclusive evidence that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was responsible for a chemical weapons attack using at least chlorine gas.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (right) and Marine General Joseph Dunford (second from right) brief the press

The Damascus sky lights up with missile fire as the US, Britain and France launches an attack on Syria

The Pentagon said none of its missiles were intercepted by Syria air defence, while Russian military forces claim Assad's defence systems.

Yet Syrian state TV said it shot down 13 missiles, which were taken down in the Kiswah area south of Damascus, the capital. Syrian state TV said three civilians have been wounded on the attack on a military base in Homs.

The footage show the wreckage of the chemical weapons research centre in Barzeh, near Damascus

The facility was one of three facilities hit during the air strikes on Syria

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Marine General Joseph Dunford said chemical weapons facilities were targeted by both missiles from the sea and fired from aircraft

Damascus skies erupt with anti-aircraft fire after Donald Trump announced the strikes

A fighter jet lands at Akrotiri military British Royal Air Force Base, Cyprus, on Saturday, April 14

Syria air defences strike back after air strikes by U.S., British and French forces in Damascus

The images shown on Al-Ikhbariya TV are the first of one of the targets. Seen in the footage are piles of rubble outside a destroyed building and a burned vehicle.

The Syrian military says the attack on the center destroyed an educational center and labs.

It says another attack with 'a number of missiles' targeting a scientific research center destroyed a building and caused other material damage but no human losses. The network says the building in the research center included an educational center and labs.

Mattis and Dunford acknowledged the strike was designed to degrade Syria's chemical weapons capability without killing civilians or the many foreign fighters in Syria's multi-sided civil war, particularly those from Russia.

'We specifically identified these targets to mitigate the risk of Russian forces being involved,' Dunford told reporters, adding the U.S. military advised Russia of airspace that would be used in the strike but did not 'pre-notify them.'

The Pentagon said one of the targets was a scientific research center located in the greater Damascus area, which it described as a Syrian center for the research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological weaponry.

The second target was a chemical weapons storage facility west of the city of Homs.

'We assess that this was the primary location of Syrian sarin and precursor production equipment,' Dunford said.

The third target, which was also near Homs, contained both a chemical weapons equipment storage facility and a command post.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdulrahman said all the targeted locations were evacuated three days ago after the Russians told the government they had intelligence that bases including the research centers would be hit. He said there were so far no reports of civilian or military casualties.

The US, France and the UK launched airstrikes on three targets in Syria overnight

A cruise missile is pictured being launched from a French military vessel in the Mediterranean sea towards targets in Syria

A fighter jet prepares to land at RAF Akrotiri, a military base Britain maintains on Cyprus

According to CNN, at least one US Navy warship based in the Red Sea took part in the strikes. US B-1 bombers were also used.

British forces launched their attack from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, where four RAF Tornado GR4s aircrafts took off from and launched Storm Shadow missiles at the military facility 15 miles west of Homs.

The Ministry of Defence refused to disclose to MailOnline how many missiles it had launched.

Mattis acknowledged that the United States waged the attacks only with conclusive evidence that chlorine gas was used in the April 7 attack in Syria.

Syrians were pictured out in the streets of Damascus this morning, chanting anti-Trump songs and waving Syrian, Iranian and Russian flags following the airstrikes.

Allegations of Assad's chlorine use are frequent in Syria's conflict, raising questions about whether Washington had lowered the threshold for military action in Syria by now deciding to strike after a chlorine gas attack.

Last year, the United States only waged strikes on Syria after determining that more deadly sarin gas was used and some U.S. media had reported that Washington was confident Assad had also used sarin on April 7.

Mattis, however, suggested the evidence of sarin was so far inconclusive.

'We are very confident that chlorine was used. We are not ruling out sarin right now,' Mattis said.

Mattis said the U.S. has no reports of suffering any losses during the initial airstrikes on Syria Friday.

Syrian supporters wave Russian, Iranian and Syrian flags in the aftermath of the airstrikes

Syrian soldier wave weapons and national flags as they chant slogans against U.S. President Trump

Syrian government supporters wave national flags and chant slogans against U.S. President Trump during demonstrations following a wave of airstrikes

Syrians wave the national flag and wave portraits of President Bashar al-Assad as they gather at the Umayyad Square in Damascus today to condemn the strikes carried out by the United States, Britain and France against the Syrian regime

Donald Trump is pictured addressing the nation from the White House, announcing the retaliatory airstrikes on Syria

U.S. President Donald Trump leaves after making a statement about Syria at the White House

Mattis said 'right now this is a one-time shot' but is not ruling out further attacks. President Donald Trump had said earlier that the campaign against the regime of Bashar Assad could be 'sustained.'

President Donald Trump said Friday evening in a national address that he ordered precision strikes in Syria in retaliation for Bashar al-Assad's 'evil and despicable' poison gas attack that killed up to 75 people last weekend.

Speaking from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, the commander-in-chief of the United States said the strikes pummeled targets associated with Assad's chemical weapons capabilities.

'This massacre was a significant escalation in a pattern of chemical weapons used by the very terrible regime. The evil and despicable attack left mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air.'

Trump said of the Syrian dictator's horrific April 7 attack on innocent civilians. 'These are not the actions of a man. They are crimes of a monster, instead.'

Trump forcefully confronted Iran and Russia for aligning themselves with 'barbarism and brutality' and said the United States and its allies in the strike, France and Britain, are prepared 'to sustain this response' until Assad discontinues his use of internationally prohibited nuclear weapons.

'What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of innocent men, women and children?' Trump asked. 'The nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep. No nation can succeed in the long run by promoting rogue states, brutal tyrants and murderous dictators.'

'The purpose of our actions tonight is to establish a strong deterrent against the production, spread and use of chemical weapons,' Trump said.

Trump said a combined operation with France and Britain was under way and that they were prepared to sustain the response until Syria stopped its use of chemical weapons.

But he said America does not seek 'an indefinite presence' in Syria and will look to pull out its troops once the Islamic State is totally defeated.

Syrian government supporters wave Syrian, Iranian and Russian flags as they chant slogans against Trump

A Syrian woman waves a Russian flag and a placard bearing the portraits of Maher al-Assad, late President Hafez al-Assad, and President Bashar al-Assad