US missile strikes on a Syrian air base have reportedly killed nine civilians – including four children – as Donald Trump launched the first direct American attack on Bashar Assad’s regime. Four children are reported to be among nine civilians killed in the “targeted assault” on the air base, from where Trump said a devastating nerve agent strike was launched earlier this week. Six servicemen – none of them Russian – are believed to have also been killed. Russia called the attack “aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law”, with President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman saying he believed the US had carried out the strikes under a “far-fetched pretext”.

source: telegraph.co.uk