DAMASCUS: Deadly missile strikes hit a Syrian military airbase yesterday, state media said, but Washington and Paris denied carrying them out in response to an alleged poison gas attack, reports AFP.

US President Donald Trump and French counterpart Emmanuel Macron had on Sunday vowed a “strong, joint response” to the suspected chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Douma.

The alleged gas attack sparked global alarm and the UN Security Council was expected to discuss the crisis later yesterday.

Syrian state news agency SANA reported just before dawn that “several missiles” had hit T-4, also known as the Tiyas military base, in the central province of Homs.

It said air defence systems had been activated and initially reported it as a “suspected US attack” but later withdrew all references to the United States.

SANA said there were dead and wounded but did not give specific figures.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the country’s conflict, said 14 fighters had been killed, including Iranian forces allied to the country’s regime.

Forces from regime allies Russia and Iran, as well as fighters from the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, are known to have a presence at the base, said Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman.

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman denied Washington was behind the strikes.

“At this time, the Department of Defence is not conducting air strikes in Syria,” the spokesman said.

“However, we continue to closely watch the situation and support the ongoing diplomatic efforts to hold those who use chemical weapons, in Syria and otherwise, accountable.”

US forces a year ago fired a volley of cruise missiles at the government’s Shayrat air base in retaliation for another suspected chemical attack in April 2017.

The Shayrat airport lies just 70 kilometres (45 miles) west of T-4 along a main highway.

French armed forces spokesman Colonel Patrik Steiger also denied France carried out the strike, telling AFP: “It was not us.”

A military spokeswoman for Israel, which has struck Syrian military positions several times in recent years, declined to comment on the strike.