Syrian air base suffers major damage due to U.S. strikes - Russia's RIA

MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. cruise missile strikes on Syria's Shayrat air base caused "significant" damage to the site, Russia's RIA Novosti agency quoted a base employee as saying on Friday. "All the aircraft on the base have been taken out of action, it's safe to say they are completely destroyed," the employee, who was not named, told RIA. The agency quoted Syrian television as reporting that a fire at the air base was continuing. The United States fired dozens of cruise missiles at the Syrian base earlier on Friday from which it said a deadly chemical weapons attack was launched this week. The move drew sharp criticism from Russia. (Reporting by Jack Stubbs; Writing by Sujata Rao; Editing by Andrew Osborn)