Story highlights President Trump moved to act after seeing images from the attack

Graphic photos from the scene show attack's smallest victims

(CNN) Warning: This article contains graphic images of dead children.

The images were shocking. Children who suffocated in their final moments. Little ones who died horrible deaths in a war zone in Syria.

The images moved people around the world to call for action. In Washington, they moved a President to make a tough decision -- to strike the alleged perpetrators -- a senior administration official told CNN.

"No child of God should ever suffer such horror," President Donald Trump said Thursday night after ordering the US military to strike an airfield in Syria with more than 50 cruise missiles.

Twenty-six children were among the more than 80 people killed in Tuesday's attack.

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