The U.S. military has launched more than 50 missiles aimed at Syria.

A U.S. military official told NBC that 59 tomahawks had been fired, which hit an airfield near Homs. President Donald Trump confirmed the attack later Thursday, saying that he had targeted the Syrian airfield from which an earlier chemical attacked had been launched.

Trump called on other countries to end the bloodshed in Syria.

"On Tuesday, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians. Using a deadly nerve agent, Assad choked out the lives of helpless mean, women and children. It was a slow and brutal death for so many. Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack," Trump said during his Thursday address.

The U.S. missiles hit aircraft and infrastructure including the runway, NBC reported. There is no word on casualties yet, but no people were targeted, the official told NBC.

One U.S. official told NBC that the Russians were warned ahead of the strike. Additionally, no Russian assets were targeted, according to the report.

Syrian armed rebels welcomed the strike. Ahrar Al Sham, tan opposition group backed by gulf states responded: "The armed opposition welcomes any U.S. intervention through surgical strikes that would deter the Assad regime capabilities to kill civilians and shorten the suffering of our people."

Syrian state TV, meanwhile, said, "American aggression targets Syrian military targets with a number of missiles."

Earlier Thursday, Reuters reported that a British diplomat had said the United Nations Security Council would not vote on Thursday on a draft resolution to condemn a deadly gas attack on Tuesday in a rebel-held area of northern Syria, but will continue negotiations.

Russia's deputy U.N. envoy, Vladimir Safronkov, warned that day of "negative consequences" if the U.S. carried out military strikes on Syria over the attack.

"We have to think about negative consequences, negative consequences, and all the responsibility if military action occurred will be on shoulders of those who initiated such doubtful and tragic enterprise," Safronkov told reporters when asked about possible U.S. strikes, adding that such consequences could be seen in Iraq and Libya.

Western countries have blamed President Bashar al-Assad's armed forces for Tuesday's attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun in a rebel-held area of northern Syria hit by government air strikes. Syria's government has denied responsibility.

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio appeared to be tweeting about an American offensive action in Syria, posting at 8:44 p.m. ET, "'Be sure of this: The wicked will not go unpunished' Proverbs 11:21 # SyriaChemicalAttack"

The United States, Britain and France proposed a draft U.N. resolution on Tuesday to condemn the attack and press Syria to cooperate with international investigators. Russia said the text was unacceptable and proposed a rival draft.

In February, Syrian ally Russia, backed by China, cast its seventh veto to protect Assad's government from council action, blocking a bid by Western powers to impose sanctions over accusations of chemical weapons attacks. China has vetoed six resolutions on Syria.

A Security Council resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, Britain, France, Russia or China to pass.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

—Reuters contributed to this report.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/06/us-mi...-nbc-news.html