Syria, Russia top G7 agenda
Possibility of additional sanctions against some Syrian and Russian military figures to be discussed, says British foreign secy Boris Johnson
LUCCA, ITALY Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven industrialised nations met on Monday to forge a response to the deadly chemical attack in Syria, and British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said they would consider imposing sanctions against Russian backers of President Bashar Assad.
G-7 diplomats hope to use outrage over the attack and wide international support for the US retaliatory missile strikes to push Russia to abandon Assad and join a new peace effort for Syria.
Speaking after meeting with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Johnson said ministers “will be discussing the possibility of further sanctions, certainly, on some of the Syrian military figures and indeed on some of the Russian military figures”.
He said Russia had a choice: to continue backing the “toxic” Assad regime, “or to work with the rest of the world to find a solution for Syria, a political solution”.
Last week’s nerve gas attack in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun, which killed more than 80 people, stirred President Donald Trump, who was previously cool to the idea of US intervention, to strike for the first time at Assad’s forces. US warships fired 59 cruise missiles at the Syrian air base from which the US believes the attack was launched.
On Monday, Tillerson said at the site of a World War II-era Nazi massacre in central Italy that the US is rededicating itself to hold to account “any and all” who commit crimes against innocent people. With the group of wealthy nations working to see if it can strike a common front on Syria, Tillerson accompanied Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano to Santa’Anna di Stazzema, where 560 civilians, including some 130 children, were killed in 1944.
The meeting in Lucca brings together the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Britain, Japan and Canada, as well as the US and current G-7 president Italy.
Ahead of the full meeting, Tillerson held bilateral talks with G-7 counterparts who included Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and Britain’s Johnson. Tillerson also spoke by phone with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, whose government insists Assad should play no role in Syria’s future.