UN Security Council to hold meet on US strikes in Syria

United Nations: The UN Security Council will meet on Friday at 11:30 am (local time) to discuss the US missile strikes on Syria, US diplomats said.

Russia demanded an emergency meeting after angrily denouncing the military action as an "aggression against a sovereign state."

US President Donald Trump yesterday ordered cruise missile strikes on a Syrian air base in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town that killed 86 people and shocked the world.

The strike - the first direct US action against President Bashar al-Assad and Trump's biggest military decision since taking office - marked a dramatic escalation in American involvement in Syria's six-year war.

The Security Council failed during a meeting yesterday to agree on terms for an investigation of the suspected sarin gas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhun.

Council members will hold an open meeting today and hear a briefing on the US military action, the US mission to the United Nations said. The United States holds this month's presidency of the Security Council.

Russia's Deputy Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov yesterday warned of "negative consequences" from the US military action, which he described as a "doubtful, tragic enterprise."

"Look at Iraq, look at Libya," he said, referring to Western interventions that unleashed years of chaos in those countries.

At least 27 children died in the suspected attack in Khan Sheikhun. Results from post-mortems performed on victims point to exposure to the deadly sarin nerve agent, according to Turkish health officials.