May and Trump: We’ll turn screw on Putin over Syria

THERESA May and Donald Trump last night agreed there was a ‘window of opportunity’ to persuade Russia to end its support for Bashar al-Assad.

In a clear sign that the pair have agreed Assad must go, the Prime Minister and US President pledged to work together to convince Vladimir Putin to stop helping the Syrian regime.

But they did not reveal what sanctions they will seek to impose on the Russian leader if he refuses to comply with their plan.

It was their first telephone conversation since Mr Trump’s surprise missile strike on the Syrian regime last week.

A Downing Street spokesman said: ‘The President thanked the Prime Minister for her support… [They] agreed that a window of opportunity now exists in which to persuade Russia that its alliance with Assad is no longer in its strategic interest.

‘They agreed that US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Moscow this week provides an opportunity to make progress towards a solution which will deliver a lasting political settle-

‘Make no mistake, he will act’

ment.’ It came as Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson warned Mr Putin he would ‘toxify the reputation of Russia’ forever unless he abandons his support for Assad. Mr Johnson, at a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Italy, argued senior Russian military officers should face financial sanctions to force them away from the Syrian regime.

In a pointed message aimed directly at Mr Putin, Mr Johnson said the country faced a choice: ‘to stick like glue to the Assad regime – that toxic regime which poisons its own people – or to work with the rest of the world to find a political solution.’ Mr Johnson urged the West to seize the ‘very substantial opportunity’ after America ‘changed the game’ with its missile strikes on a Syrian airbase in response to a chemical weapons attack.

Last night Pentagon chief Jim Mattis said the strike by 59 Tomahawk missiles destroyed a fifth of Assad’s working warplanes.

In a separate development, the White House defied threats from Russia and Iran to say Mr Trump was prepared to initiate further attacks on Syria. It appeared to widen America’s terms of engagement by saying Mr Trump would consider a renewed attack if civilians were targeted by barrel bombs – a high explosive conventional weapon – as well as chemical weapons.

Spokesman Sean Spicer said: ‘If you gas a baby, if you put a barrel bomb in to innocent people, you will see a response from this President. That is unacceptable. The President’s going to play his cards very close to his chest but, make no mistake, he will act.’

Mr Spicer said defeating ISIS and getting Assad out of power were twin US goals in Syria.

While visiting Scotland, Mr Trump’s second son Eric said his father would not be ‘ pushed around’ by Mr Putin. The businessman, who runs the family property empire, said there would be ‘no one harder’ than his father if Russia ‘cross us’, and talks of war did not scare the President. He also told the Telegraph his father’s decision to bomb a Syrian airbase was influenced by the reaction of his sister Ivanka, who said she was ‘heartbroken and outraged’ by the atrocity.

Meanwhile, US senator John McCain accused Russia of having co- operated with Syria in the chemical weapons attack that killed more than 80 people, including more than a dozen children. Earlier officials said Russian drone activity in the area suggested it had also later tried to cover up the attack with a bombing raid.

At a meeting in Italy ahead of the G7 gathering, it is understood Mr Tillerson yesterday told Mr Johnson that the US now backs regime change in Syria, following days of lobbying by the Foreign Secretary.

Mr Johnson later said the US Secretary of State would take a message to Mr Putin that he was ‘poisoning the reputation of Russia’ by supporting Assad.

Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov later added: ‘Returning to pseudo-attempts to resolve the crisis by repeating mantras that Assad must step down cannot help sort things out.’