[36][37] Al-Masdar News reported that 15 fighter jets were damaged or destroyed and that the destruction of fuel tankers caused several explosions and a large fire.

[46][47] Hours after the U.S. missile strike, Syrian military aircraft took off from the Shayrat base to attack rebel positions again, including the town of Khan Shaykhun.

[57] After both the chemical attack and missile strike, the U.S. administration was in disagreement and contradiction to U.S. policy from 2013 until 30 March 2017, as well the statements by U.S. ambassador to U.N. Nikki Haley, United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster differed on the change of U.S. military posture toward Syria and prioritization of regime change.

[65] United Nations News Centre reported that while some delegates expressed support for the strikes as a response to the Syrian government's alleged use of chemical weapons, others condemned it as a unilateral act of aggression, underlining that the Council must authorize any such intervention.

[67] On 11 April 2017, after the meeting at Lucca in Italy the Group of Seven unanimously blamed the Syrian government's military for the chemical attack and agreed that Assad must step down as part of any peace solution, but European allies rejected the US and UK push for sanctions against Russia and Syria.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R–CA) said, "Assad has made his disregard for innocent human life and long-standing norms against chemical weapons use crystal clear.

"[77] In a joint statement, Senators John McCain (R–AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R–SC) said, "Unlike the previous administration, President Trump confronted a pivotal moment in Syria and took action.

Their sentiment was shared by fellow Senators Bob Corker (R–TN), Tom Cotton (R–AR), Joni Ernst (R–IA), Cory Gardner (R–CO), David Perdue (R–GA), Ben Sasse (R–NE), and Thom Tillis (R–NC).

[79] In a joint statement, Representatives and Iraq War veterans Seth Moulton (D–MA) and Steve Russell (R–OK) said, "We cannot stand by in silence as dictators murder children with chemical weapons, but military action without clear goals and objectives gets us nowhere.

Representative Ted Lieu (D–CA) and Senator Tim Kaine (D–VA) called the strike unconstitutional,[76] with the former tweeting, "This was done with no debate in Congress and no explanation to the American people."

[81] Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D–HI) gave a more critical message, and said, "This escalation is short-sighted and will lead to the death of more civilians, more refugees, the strengthening of al-Qaeda and other terrorists, and a possible nuclear war between the United States and Russia."

Other lawmakers expressing criticism included Senators Michael Bennet (D–CO), Ben Cardin (D–MD), Ted Cruz (R–TX), Dick Durbin (D–IL), Ed Markey (D–MA), Jeff Merkley (D–OR), Elizabeth Warren (D–MA), and Representatives Joaquín Castro (D–TX) and Steny Hoyer (D–MD).

Senator Mike Lee (R–UT) said, "President Trump should make his case in front of the American people and allow their elected representatives to debate the benefits and risks of further Middle East intervention to our national security interests.

[83][74][75] Former congressman Ron Paul argued that because in Syria "things [had been] going along reasonably well for the conditions", there was "zero chance" that Assad had deliberately used chemical weapons, and called the attack a "false flag".

Major U.S. media outlets, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, MSNBC and CNN, were all generally supportive of the administration's decision to use airstrikes against Syria; Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting, a progressive watchdog group, claimed that out of the 47 most-read American newspapers which published editorials about the airstrike, 39 expressed varyingly favorable opinions of it, seven were more ambiguous in tone, and only one (the Houston Chronicle) was explicitly negative.

[94][95][96][97] A joint command center of Russian and Iranian military in Syria, who support the Syrian government, said the strike crossed "red lines" and threatened to "respond with force" to "US aggression".

Barazi told the Syrian News Channel that "they are not surprised today to see the supporting parties interfering directly after the failure of terrorists in targeting Syria".

[103] The Syrian Ambassador Bashar Jaafari at the UN Security Council session stated that "this act makes America a partner of ISIL, Al-Nusra and other terrorist groups", and it was a violation of the U.N.

[108] The Russian President's spokesperson said the U.S. strike was "an act of aggression against a sovereign country violating the norms of international law under a trumped-up pretext", which "substantially impair[ed]" Russia–United States relations.

[110] The Russian foreign ministry denounced the strike as being based on false intelligence and against international law, suspended the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Prevention of Flight Safety Incidents that had been signed with the U.S., and called an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

[116] Iran's president Hassan Rouhani condemned the U.S. military strike, saying Trump had claimed that "he wanted to fight terrorism, but today, all terrorists in Syria are celebrating the U.S.

[117] According to Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif's tweet, "Not even two decades after 9/11, U.S. military fighting on same side as al-Qaida & ISIS in Yemen & Syria.

[121] The governments of Albania,[122] Australia,[123] Bahrain,[124] Bulgaria,[125] Canada,[126] the Czech Republic,[127] Denmark,[128] Estonia,[129] France,[130] Georgia,[131] Germany,[130] Israel,[132] Italy,[133] Japan,[134] Jordan,[135] Kosovo,[122] Kuwait,[136] Latvia,[137] Lithuania,[138] New Zealand,[139] Norway,[140] Poland,[141] Qatar,[136] Romania,[142] Saudi Arabia,[143] Turkey,[144] Ukraine,[145] the United Arab Emirates,[146] and the United Kingdom[147] generally supported the strike, some calling it a just response and strong message against the use of chemical weapons.

[148] During the 10 April European Union summit in Madrid, the leaders of southern EU nations (Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain) said that a US missile strike on a Syrian airbase in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack was "understandable".

[149] Luxembourg's foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, noted that the U.S. and Trump's change in policy toward Assad government was surprising, and considered an international diplomatic effort as a solution.

[160] The Egyptian foreign ministry called on the United States and Russia to "contain the conflict" and reach a comprehensive and final resolution to the crisis,[161] as did Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó who said that the civil war "cannot be resolved without an American-Russian accord"[162] and Colombian President and 2016 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Juan Manuel Santos who called for a political solution to the conflict in Syria and dialogue between the United States and Russia to avoid escalating the already complex situation.

[170] The U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres appealed "for restraint to avoid any acts that could deepen the suffering of the Syrian people", and that "there is no other way to solve the conflict than through a political solution".