Beirut (AFP) - Syrian rebels on Friday welcomed a US strike on a government airbase, but urged additional action, with one powerful faction saying a single strike was "not enough."

The US attack on the Shayrat base in central Syria was Washington's first military action against the regime in the six-year civil war.

"Hitting one airbase is not enough, there are 26 airbases that target civilians," a key figure in the Army of Islam faction, Mohamed Alloush, said on his Twitter account.

"The whole world should save the Syrian people from the clutches of the killer Bashar (al-Assad) and his aides."

Other rebel groups welcomed the US strike and called for continued military action against the regime.

"The American strike against the killing tools used by Bashar al-Assad is the first step on the correct path to combating terrorism and we hope it will continue," said Issam Raes, spokesman for the Southern Front rebel faction.

"In my opinion, the message is political, and the message has arrived to Russia and been understood," he told AFP.

Colonel Ahmed Osman, of the Turkey-backed Sultan Murad rebel group said: "We welcome any action that will put an end to the regime that is committing the worst crimes in history."

Mohamed Bayrakdar, another leader of the Army of Islam, which operates mainly around the capital Damascus, described the strike as "a bold and correct step."

"We welcome any response to the crimes of the regime," he told AFP.