Tensions rise between US and Russia after Trump's airstrike

The UN Security Council meets to discuss the US ship-launched air strikes. Picture: Getty Images

Tensions between Russia and the US are rising after President Donald Trump ordered a missile strike on a Syrian air base allegedly used to stage a chemical attack that killed dozens of civilians.

In a dramatic reversal after years of opposition to US intervention in the Middle East, President Trump said the use of chemical weapons against civilians was “barbaric” and demanded a military response.

Shayrat air base, south of the city of Homs, was hit by 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles in the early hours of Tuesday.

Pictures taken in daylight showed hangars and buildings reduced to rubble by the 1,000lb missiles.

Last night the US ambassador to the United Nations told an emergency session of the Security Council her government was “prepared to do more” to oust Syrian president Bashar al-Assad using military force.

Downing Street welcomed the attack – the first on the Syrian government by the west in the country’s six-year civil war – but the Kremlin denounced it as an “aggression” and a violation of international law.

Russia responded with a promise to strengthen its Syrian ally’s air defences in a warning against further US attacks.

Last night the Russian missile frigate Admiral Grigorovich was en route to the Eastern Mediterranean, where cruise missiles were launched from two US navy destroyers, USS Porter and USS Ross.

The Russian military also withdrew from an information-sharing agreement aimed at avoiding casualties and mid-air collisions between its forces and those of the multinational coalition including the UK as both attack Islamic State.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the US had launched the strikes under a “far-fetched pretext”, and warned that the action would deal “a significant blow to the Russia-US relations, which are already in a deplorable shape”.

Mr Peskov added that the attack creates a “serious obstacle” to the international fight against terrorism, while Russia’s UN ambassador warned of “horrible tragedies” to follow in the region.