Syria and Russia blamed Israel for early morning air strikes on a Syrian military base as tensions among global powers embroiled in the Syrian civil war escalated.

Yesterday's strikes came two days after dozens of people were killed in a suspected poison gas attack on a Syrian rebel holdout. US President Donald Trump has blamed the attack on the Russian-backed Syrian regime.

Russia's military said two Israeli F-15 warplanes had launched the air strikes. A conflict monitoring group said 14 people, including fighters from Iran, were killed.

Israel did not confirm nor deny mounting the raid.

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