Updated April 14, 2018 21:37:41

Photo: The air strikes were aimed to stop further chemical attacks by the Assad regime. (AP Photo: Hassan Ammar)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denounced a US-led air strike on Syria as an "act of aggression" that will exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria.

In a statement issued by the Kremlin, the Russian leader said Moscow called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations' Security Council over the strike launched by the United States, Britain and France.

Photo: Mr Putin argued that a purported chemical attack which prompted the strike was a fake. (AP: Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Mr Putin added that the strike had a "destructive influence on the entire system of international relations".

He reaffirmed Russia's view that a purported chemical attack in the Syrian town of Douma, that prompted the strike, was a fake.

Mr Putin added that Russian military experts who inspected Douma found no trace of the attack.

He criticised the US and its allies for launching the strike without waiting for inspectors from the international chemical weapons watchdog to visit the area.

Mr Putin has been a supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with Russian military forces helping in the Syrian leader's conflict with rebel forces.

Syria undeterred by air strikes, military says

In a televised statement for state media, the Syrian military said the attacks would not diminish the army's resolve to press the fight against all remaining militants in the country.

The army said nearly 110 missiles hit targets in the capital Damascus and other areas, and air defence systems brought most of them down.

"Such attacks will not deter our armed forces and allied forces from persisting to crush what is left of the armed terrorist groups," the military said.

Damascus, with key allies Russia and Iran, have lambasted reports of the suspected gas attack as bogus.

The Syrian Government has accused Washington of seeking to use it as a pretext for attacking.

Photo: The air strikes were confined to Syrian military infrastructure to avoid Russian and Iranian casualties. (AP Photo: Hassan Ammar)

The Syrian foreign ministry said the US-led strikes would only "lead to inflaming tensions in the world" and threaten international security.

"The barbaric aggression …will not affect in any way the determination and insistence of the Syrian people and their heroic armed forces," state media quoted an official ministry source as saying.

Following the attacks, hundreds of Syrians gathered at landmark squares in the Syrian capital, honking their car horns, flashing victory signs and waving Syrian and Russian flags in scenes of defiance.

Iran, Iraq warn strikes increase tensions

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the US-led missile attack on Syria would lead to more destruction in the Middle East, according to Iran's Tasnim news agency.

"Such attacks will have no result but more destruction … the Americans want to justify their presence in the region by such attacks," Tasnim quoted Mr Rouhani as saying.

And in a statement, Iraqi's foreign ministry said the air strikes marked a "a very dangerous development".

"Such action could have dangerous consequences, threatening the security and stability of the region and giving terrorism another opportunity to expand after it was ousted from Iraq and forced into Syria to retreat to a large extent," it said.

The ministry called on Arab leaders to discuss the situation at a summit due to be held in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

Shiite-led Iraq has kept good relations with the Assad Government and Iran, while also receiving massive military and financial support from the US, Britain and France.

AP/Reuters

Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, donald-trump, defence-forces, world-politics, syrian-arab-republic, germany, russian-federation

First posted April 14, 2018 19:11:30