BUNGLING BOJO BITES BACK

After his G7 humiliation, Johnson launches fresh salvo over gas attack

BORIS JOHNSON launched a fightback yesterday after claims that he had made a mess of handling the West’s response to the gas attack on Syrian civilians and his failed bid to impose sanctions on Russia.

The Foreign Secretary urged the international community to ‘go further’ in punishing those responsible for the chemical weapons attack in Khan Sheikhun.

In a joint plea with his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault, Mr Johnson demanded action against the perpetrators. Mr Ayrault led the move at last week’s G7 economic summit in Italy, where Mr Johnson’s sanctions plan was summarily thrown out.

Tellingly, there was no mention of Mr Johnson’s demand for new sanctions against Vladimir Putin in the Anglo-French initiative.

Furthermore, while branding Syrian President Bashir al Assad a ‘liar’, the two Foreign Ministers acknowledged that Assad’s guilt over the chemical weapons attack could not yet be proved, saying only he was ‘highly likely’ to be guilty.

‘Regime denials should impress no one,’ they said. ‘Assad said it was the terrorists. But he claims not to have barrel bombs, not to bomb civilians, not to torture. We have been through this already – this shameless production of lies. We can’t any more. When children are gassed, we can take no more abject lies.’ The deaths and injuries caused by the attack were ‘too grim to describe’, they said. ‘Painful, indiscriminate and long-lasting agony for babies, women and the elderly. It brings shame on the Syrian regime and its supporters.’

They added: ‘It is highly likely that attack was carried out by the Assad regime. Russian claims that opposition stockpiles were struck do not fit the facts.’

The international community ‘had a moral duty to go further’, the two Ministers said.

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