
Donald Trump unleashed his Tomahawk barrage on one of al-Assad's key bases from the sea to avoid upsetting allies and using the huge US military arsenal built up off the coast of Syria.

The US President last night fired 59 missiles at al-Shayrat military airfield near Homs overnight in retaliation for the Syrian leader's horrific chemical weapons attack on Idlib.

They were launched from his state of the art destroyers USS Ross and USS Porter which can fire dozens of Tomahawks with pinpoint accuracy from up to 1,500 miles away from their targets.

The destroyers' locations are always kept secret but they are believed to have been off the coast of Turkey or Cyprus, around 150 to 200 miles away from al-Shayrat - and fired 30 minutes after they warned the Russians to leave the base and surrounding area.

Syria's armed forces were also warned about US military action hours before the strike, a military source told AFP.

The laser-guided Tomahawk is the US military's most advanced missile carrying a 1,000lb bomb powerful enough to destroy most targets with enough accuracy to avoid hitting any Russians and sparking war between the two superpowers.

In response Moscow has already pledged to strengthen Assad's air defences, will stop sharing intelligence with Washington and has diverted its main Black Sea fleet warship The Admiral Grigorovich to the Syrian port of Tartus. It is currently in the Bosphorus and will enter the Mediterranean later today.

Target: In the early hours of this morning the strikes were launched from two US destroyers in the Mediterranean and have killed at least five and destroyed at least nine Syrian jets, a fuel store and badly damaged the runway at al-Shayrat airbase

USS Ross: This is the moment one of America's destroyers fired one of 59 Tomahawk missiles into Syria from the Mediterranean

USS Porter: This destroyer is part of a US large fleet surrounding Syria and Iraq in the Mediterranean, Red Sea and Persian Gulf used to bombard Assad for the first time

Destruction: This is the remains of one of the hangars obliterated by US missiles fired from destroyers overnight

The US destroyers that hammered al-Assad USS Porter: U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Porter was last seen in the Bosphorus off Istanbul in February and USS Porter Captain: CDR Andria L. Slough Class and type: Arleigh Burke-class destroyer Length: 505 ft (154 m) Team: 270 personnel including around 60 officers Weapons: Two missile launching systems with the ability to fire up to 90 Tomahawk missiles. It has six large guns and two torpedo tubes Aircraft: 2 helicopters USS Ross: Its location is secret but it is known to be in the eastern Med USS Ross Captain: CDR Russell J. Caldwell Class and type: Arleigh Burke-class destroyer Length: 505 ft (154 m) Team: 210 personnel and 38 senior officers Weapons: Two missile launching systems with the ability to fire up to 90 Tomahawk missiles. It also has a harpoon missile launcher. It has seven large guns and two torpedo tubes Aircraft: 2 helicopters Advertisement

The one-ton missiles costing $800,000 each were chosen because:

It can be launched from the sea to avoid using an ally's air base

Weapon map-reads its way to the enemy, hugging contours in the landscape, and using an on-board camera to pinpoint its target

Tomahawks cruise at low altitude and follow a complicated route to avoid being tracked by radar

Its accuracy is extraordinary, using a stored image of the target with the actual target before blowing it up

Tomahawks offered best chance of avoiding damaging anything Russian, or killing anyone Russians, which could spark a war

America has packed the Mediterranean with ships, submarines and aircraft with even more firepower in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea including the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier packed with jets currently battering ISIS targets.

But these ships can quickly be moved into the Med via Suez.

In the early hours of this morning the strikes were launched and have killed at least five and destroyed at least nine Syrian jets, a fuel store and badly damaged the runway at al-Shayrat.

The Syrian military said at least seven people were killed and nine wounded in the US strike. A Syrian opposition monitor put the death toll at four, including a general and three soldiers.

A convoy of Russian vehicles was seen leaving the airbase last night.

Russia's foreign minister says no Russian servicemen have been hurt in a U.S. strike on a Syrian air base.

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

Russian state TV aired the 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.

To protect pilots, Russia and the U.S. opened a so-called "deconfliction line" in late 2015.

On the US 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.

Mr Trump's decision to fire missiles from the Mediterranean was a tactical one, to avoid upsetting allies including Turkey by using their bases to launch a bombing raid by fighter jet.

The US uses the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey but last night's operation would have required President Erdogan's consent and risked a row.

Similarly any airborne sortie from bases across the Middle East could cause similar diplomatic problems.

The United States has been fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria since 2014, so has amassed a huge military presence and an array of capabilities in the region.

If President Donald Trump decides to launch more strikes against Syrian regime targets, the Pentagon has many ways with which to do so.

Any strike against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is likely to be conducted remotely to avoid putting US pilots in harm's way.

In September 2014, US ships launched 47 Tomahawk missiles during the first night of strikes against ISIS in Syria. These missiles can also be launched from attack submarines, but the location of these vessels is secret.

A barrage of Tomahawks could overwhelm any air defenses. Assad's systems are weakened after six years of war but Russia has deployed state-of-the art systems to Syria.

Over in the Persian Gulf, the Navy's Fifth Fleet can quickly respond to military requests in the region.

The USS George H. W. Bush aircraft carrier is also in the Gulf, currently supporting operations against IS.

The bulk of US efforts against ISIS in Syria has been conducted from the air, with about 7,500 coalition jet and drone strikes since 2014.

The United States has multiple air bases at its disposal in the region, including Incirlik in southeastern Turkey, just 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Syrian border.

Among the many air assets available to the United States are its high-tech F-22 Raptors, F-16s and even B-52 heavy bombers.

The F-22, which cost about $360million apiece, is considered the world's most advanced fighter currently operating, thanks to its ability to evade radar.

It can fly faster than Mach 2 and launch laser-guided bombs from miles away.

The Air Force also has at its disposal a fleet of armed Reaper and Predator drones, which use Hellfire missiles to strike targets.

Weapon of choice: Donald Trump has fired 59 Tomahawk missiles into Syria - the £1million one-ton missiles destroy targets with pinpoint accuracy

Target: 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

Russia has diverted its main Black Sea fleet warship The Admiral Grigorovich to the Syrian port of Tartus. It is currently in the Bosphorus (pictured) and will enter the Mediterranean later today

Tactics: The US has a huge airforce at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey - but would have needed the country's permission to launch an attack on al-Assad's Syria

The United States has about 900 troops in Syria -- mainly special operations forces -- to help train and advise an Arab-Kurdish alliance fighting IS.

A Marine artillery unit is helping local forces near Raqa and US forces have expanded a runway at a northern Syria air base to accommodate the huge C-17 military plane, which can bring in armored vehicles and equipment.

The US also has Apache gunships in neighboring Iraq to support local troops on the ground.

Meanwhile, Russian military chiefs have warned that its bases in Syria - Tartus and Hmeymim - are protected by 'three layers' of air defence.

Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russia's S-400, S-300 and Pantsir systems were deployed in the war-torn country and that crews manned them 'around the clock'.

But the defense facilities also include the Bastion system which Russia claims is capable of hitting 'naval and ground targets' up to 280 miles away.