WASHINGTON, April 7. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump said he has ordered targeted airstrikes on a Syrian airfield in response to the alleged chemical attack in Syria’s Idlib province.

"It is in the vital national security interest of the United states to prevent and deter the use of deadly chemical weapons," Trump told reporters in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.

"Tonight I call on all civilized nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria."

The NBC TV channel reported that the US military fired at least 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a military base of the Syrian government forces in Homs governorate in western Syria. The Tomahawk cruise missiles were intended for a single target - the Shayrat Airfield from which the US intelligence believes the alleged April 4 chemical attack had been carried out.

The US Department of Defense said "Russian forces were notified in advance of the strike using the established deconfliction line."

"US military planners took precautions to minimize risk to Russian or Syrian personnel located at the airfield," it said in a statement.