US warns Russia on Syria ties as Tillerson lands in Moscow
It is clear to us that the reign of the Assad family is coming to an end, says US secy of state
: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson carried a message from world powers to Moscow on Tuesday denouncing Russian support for Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, as the Trump administration took on America’s traditional mantle as leader of a unified West.
Tillerson flew on the administration’s first cabinet mission to Russia after meeting foreign ministers from the Group of Seven advanced economies and Middle Eastern allies in Italy. They endorsed a joint call for Russia to abandon Assad.
The Trump administration was thrust into confrontation with Moscow last week when a poison gas attack in northern Syria killed 87 people. Western countries blame President Assad for the gas attack, and Trump responded by firing cruise missiles at a Syrian air base. Russian President Vladimir Putin has stood firmly by Assad.
“It is clear to us the reign of the Assad family is coming to an end,” Tillerson told reporters in Italy before departing for Moscow. “We hope that the Russian government concludes that they have aligned themselves with an unreliable partner in Bashar Al-Assad.”
He said Russia had failed in its role as sponsor of a 2013 deal under which Assad promised to give up his chemical arsenal. “These agreements stipulated Russia as the guarantor of a Syria free of chemical weapons. It is unclear whether Russia failed to take this obligation seriously and whether Russia has been incompetent. But this distinction doesn’t much matter to the dead. We can’t let this happen again.”
Russia says the chemicals that killed civilians belonged to rebels, not to Assad’s government, and has accused the US of an illegal act of aggression against Syria on a phoney pretext. Putin said on Tuesday he believed Washington planned to launch more missile strikes, and that rebels were planning to stage chemical weapons attacks to provoke them.
“We have information that a similar provocation is being prepared ... in other parts of Syria including in the southern Damascus suburbs where they are planning to again plant some substance and accuse the Syrian authorities of using (chemical weapons),” Putin said, standing alongside Italian President Sergio Matarella.
NO DEAL ON SANCTIONS AGAINST RUSSIA, SYRIA
The G7 ministers failed to agree on whether fresh sanctions should be imposed on Damascus and Moscow. “At the moment there is no consensus on new sanctions as an effective instrument,” Italy’s Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano said. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said: “All the G7 states want to avoid a military escalation and want a political solution.”