McCain weighs in:

John McCain, a Trump foe and chairman of the Senate armed services committee, has applauded the president for taking military action “and for signalling his resolve to do so again if these heinous attacks continue”.

He says: “The message to Assad must be that the cost of using chemical weapons is worse than any perceived benefit, that the United States and our allies have the will and capability to continue imposing those costs, and that Iran and Russia will ultimately be unsuccessful in protecting Assad from our punitive response.”

However, he urges famously impulsive Trump to put together a comprehensive strategy for the region in order to succeed in the long run. He says air strikes alone will not achieve US objectives in the Middle East.