Israeli leaders have issued strong messages of support for America’s missile strike on a Syrian airbase last night in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack on civilians in the country.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, said American President Donald Trump had sent “a strong and clear message today that the use and spread of chemical weapons will not be tolerated”.

Israel, he added, hoped “the message of resolve in the face of the Assad regime’s horrific actions will resonate not only in Damascus, but in Tehran, Pyongyang and elsewhere”.

Reuven Rivlin, president of Israel, described the US strike as a “fitting response to such unthinkable brutality, and an example to the entire free world”

Isaac Herzog, leader of Israel’s Opposition, called it “an important message to the butcher from Damascus.”

Two naval destroyers launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles in the early hours of Friday against Shayrat airbase, destroying aircraft and ammunition and, according to Syria, killing six people.

More than 80 civilians, including many children, are believed to have been killed by nerve agents in an attack on the northern Syrian town of Idlib on Tuesday afternoon.

The Assad government has denied responsibility for the atrocity.

But President Trump said in a statement last night: “There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and ignored the urging of the UN Security Council.”

Russia, which has repeatedly vetoed resolutions at the Security Council critical of the Syrian regime, called the American strike “an act of aggression against a sovereign nation”.

Britain has also declared support for America’s “appropriate response”.