Trump notifies US Congress of Syria air strikes, warns of further actions

President Donald Trump notified Congress on Saturday of the US missile strikes on Syria days after the event, warning ominously of further actions "as necessary".

In a letter addressed to House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate president pro tempore Orrin Hatch, Trump gave details on the missile strike on the Shayrat military airfield, launched in retaliation for an apparent chemical attack.

US warships in the Mediterranean fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at about 3:40am Syria time on Friday at the airfield located near Homs in central Syria.

US intelligence indicated "that Syrian military forces operating from this airfield were responsible for the chemical weapons attack on Syrian civilians in southern Idlib Province, Syria, that occurred on April 4," Trump wrote.

"I directed this action in order to degrade the Syrian military's ability to conduct further chemical weapons attacks and to dissuade the Syrian regime from using or proliferating chemical weapons, thereby promoting the stability of the region and averting a worsening of the region's current humanitarian catastrophe."

Trump wrote that he "acted in the vital national security and foreign policy interests of the United States, pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct foreign relations and as commander in chief and chief executive.

He then added that the United States "will take additional action, as necessary and appropriate, to further its important national interests".

Trump said that he was writing to keep Congress informed "consistent with the War Powers Resolution," a 1973 measure mandating the president to notify Congress of military action.

US lawmakers expressed general support for the attack, according to The Hill website, though many called for the president to seek congressional approval before conducting any further military operations against Syria.

Senate Majority Leader Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, however, said that the president shouldn’t have to seek further approval for military action.

He argued that an Authorization for Use of Military Force approved by Congress in the days after the 11 September 2001 attacks, and another in 2002 that authorised the Iraq War, justified recent military action in the region, The Hill reported.

"We passed one back in 2001 and 2002, I believe, and the previous president thought that it authorised what we were doing in that part of the world, and I expect this president thinks the same," he told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Friday.

Trump’s assertion that the US was prepared to carry out further attacks on Syria if necessary echoed similar comments made on Friday by US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

"The United States took a very measured step last night," Haley said. "We are prepared to do more, but we hope that will not be necessary."

The Tomahawks targeted aircraft, hardened aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage, ammunition supply bunkers, air defence systems and radars, the Pentagon said.

Trump responded via Twitter on Saturday to critics complaining that the airfield's landing strip was undamaged after the missile attack.

"The reason you don't generally hit runways is that they are easy and inexpensive to quickly fix (fill in and top)!" he wrote.