Syrian army says 6 killed in U.S. missile strike

According to local news reports, U.S. warships launched around 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian government airbase. [Video from China Central Television]

The Syrian army said in a statement that six soldiers were killed by U.S. missile strike that targeted a Syrian air base in central Syria on Friday.

In a statement, the general command of the Syrian army said the missile attack on the Shayrat Air Base in the central province of Homs was a flagrant aggression against the Syrian army.

Huge damage was inflicted on the targeted base, said the statement.

The "condemned American aggression" stresses the "wrong American strategy and undermine the efforts exerted by the Syrian army against the terrorist groups," the statement said.

At dawn Friday, the Unite States struck the Syrian air base in Homs with tens of Tomahawk missiles.

The state TV said the attack was an "American aggression."

The attack marks the U.S. response to the alleged chemical attack on rebel-held town in northwestern Syria last Tuesday.

Washington accused the Syrian army of being behind the toxic attack that targeted the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province, an allegation totally denied by Damascus.

Activists of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said over 70 people were killed in Khan Sheikhoun by the toxic gas.

Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem denied at a press conference Thursday that the Syrian army fired toxic gas on Khan Sheikhoun town in Idlib province.

The minister said the army struck an arm depot which belongs to the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, adding that the depot contained chemical materials the terrorists were bringing in from Iraq.

The army further noted that "the U.S. justification of the attack as a response to the chemical attack in Idlib without knowing what really happened sends wrong messages to the terrorist groups and make them go further in using chemical weapons whenever they suffer losses."

It stressed that this "aggression runs counter to all laws and International norms, and aim to undermine the Syrian army's capabilities in the war on terror."

The army stressed determination to carry on with the national duty to defend the Syrian people against the terrorist groups and restore security and peace to all of Syria.