US, Turkey talk Assad’s future
US is rededicating itself to holding to account those who commit crimes against innocent people, says secretary of state Rex Tillerson in Italy
LUCCA/ ANKARA : US secretary of state Rex Tillerson and Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu held a telephone conversation on Monday during which the future of Syrian President Bashar Assad was discussed.
The call came as foreign ministers from the Group of Seven industrialised nations gathered in Italy on Monday for a meeting that was given urgency by the chemical attack in Syria and the US military response.
Participants in the G7 meeting aim to pressure Russia to end its support for Assad and help mount a new push for peace.
A Turkish foreign ministry official said Cavusoglu and Tillerson also talked about the fight against the Islamic State group.
Turkey had backed US President Donald Trump’s decision to punish Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons by launching cruise missiles at a Syrian air base, but said pressure on Syria should continue.
Ankara also insists there should be no role for Assad in Syria’s future.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday said the US missile attack was a “strategic mistake”.
Last week’s nerve gas attack in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun, which killed more than 80 people, stirred Trump to strike for the first time at Assad’s forces.
Tillerson said Monday 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 G7 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 were killed in 1944.
The G7 meeting in the Tuscan walled city of 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 and British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. Britain is keen for the ministers’ meeting to produce a tough statement and perhaps a threat of new sanctions if Moscow does not end its military support for Assad.