In his separate comments, Putin also claimed that Russian Federation had information that chemical weapons would be planted in Syria in order to discredit Assad's regime.
Earlier this year, Syrian President Bashar Assad said that the country's government had never used weapons of mass destruction, including chemical weapons, against the Syrian people.
But some rank-and-file GOP members, along with many Democrats, have criticized Trump for acting impulsively and betraying his own past opposition to USA intervention in Syria. But they were divided about how to deal with Syria, and Moscow.
Trump has not commented on Syria apart from a brief statement the night he ordered the cruise missile strike and a tweet defending the USA military's decision not to crater the airfield's runways. Asked whether she thought Russian Federation was trying to help Assad cover up the use of chemical weapons, Haley said either Moscow knew Assad had weapons that would be used or they were "played for fools by Assad and kept in the dark".
The South Carolina Republican dismissed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's appeal to Russian Federation to abandon its alliance with Syrian President Bashar Assad as "naive".
Almost three months into his presidency - and less than two weeks after both Tillerson and Haley said that removing Assad was no longer a priority for the US - Trump's decision to wade into an extraordinarily crowded and complex battlefield has shifted to the side the "America First" platform on which he campaigned. A local officer or powerful Syrian field commander, going rogue, could conceivably elect to open fire on US aircraft independent of the Syrian loyalist chain of command.
His trip follows Monday's claim by a senior USA official that Washington has concluded Russian Federation knew in advance of Syria's chemical weapons attack.
If President Donald Trump needs to do more in Syria "he will do more, " U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on CNN's "State of the Union". "We saw the evidence".
United States says Russian Federation knew Syrian chemical attack was coming
Retaliating for barrel bombs would require a major shift in USA policy since rebels say the weapons are used nearly daily. Tillerson said it was clear the USA saw no role for Assad in Syria's future, given that he had lost legitimacy.
Still, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he believed that Trump didn't need to consult with Congress.
Top diplomats from the seven major advanced economies are in Italy for their annual two-day meeting which had initially been expected to focus on talks with new US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson about hotspots like Libya, Iran and Ukraine.
"I think that the message they will want to deliver is "we want some respect in this context".
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, added: "Certainly, it's the hope of the administration that this action will influence [Assad's] behavior in a positive direction, and we will not see further chemical attacks".
"I think it is clear to all of us that the reign of the Assad family is coming to an end, but the question of how that ends and the transition itself could be very important, in our view, to the durability. of a unified Syria", Tillerson said. Yet his prepared statements after the strike highlight the need for America to uphold worldwide norms and standards against the spread and use of weapons of mass destruction.
"We're hopeful that we can prevent a continuation of the civil war and that we can bring the parties to the table to begin the process of political discussions" between the Assad government and various rebel groups.
The hope, he said, is that "we can navigate a political outcome in which the Syrian people, in fact, will determine Bashar al-Assad's fate and his legitimacy".
Under President Barack Obama, the United States accused Russian Federation of supporting Assad in war crimes against civilians and of employing a sophisticated disinformation campaign to protect its ally. Still, Haley said the US didn't see a peaceful future Syria with Assad in power.
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