Arab League chief Ahmed Abu Gheit warned Saturday against a "dangerous escalation" in Syria after a US missile strike on a Syrian airbase following an alleged regime chemical attack.

"The Arab League rejects regional and international powers' attempts to politick over the corpses of Syrians or at the cost of its sovereignty," he told reporters.

"Therefore we demand that all should retreat from this dangerous escalation we are monitoring," said the secretary general of the 22-member Arab bloc based in Cairo.

Early on Friday morning, the US military fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at Shayrat air field in response to a suspected chemical attack this week widely blamed on the Damascus regime.

A Syrian military source told AFP that Syria's armed forces were warned about possible US military action hours before the strike took place.

Abul Gheit condemned the chemical attack, for which the regime has denied responsibility, saying "the perpetrators must be held accountable one day".