Syrian war and Boris’s battles

Foreign Secretary’s test of mettle

NINE MONTHS into the job, Boris Johnson is discovering that the job of Foreign Secretary requires not just diplomacy – but a certain nimbleness that extends beyond his trademark offthe-cuff messages.

This is exemplified by the global response to the odious Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons against its own people, a blatant war crime, and the G7 rejecting Mr Johnson’s call for targeted sanctions against those complicit in this abuse of humanity.

Critics of the Foreign Secretary will say it is further evidence of his lack of influence on the world stage just days after he called off a planned visit to Moscow to meet senior Kremlin officials accused of propping up President Bashir al-Assad in Syria so that Rex Tillerson, the relatively new US Secretary of State, can today make the rest of the world’s misgivings clear in robust language following America’s airstrikes early last Friday.

Yet, while critics are right to caution against further cruise missile strikes unless there’s a political strategy to remove Assad from office, there is a growing realisation that President Donald Trump had to act because his predecessor Barack Obama’s empty threats were no deterrent whatsoever to the use of weapons of mass destruction and disregard of all international conventions. Furthermore, there is an agreement that the UN and others can’t negotiate with Syria if President Assad remains in office – and that the current crisis does, in fact, present a rare window of opportunity.

This is not just a challenge for Britain which still carries the scars of joining forces with America in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. The current crisis is a direct threat to world peace and attempts by Mr Johnson, and others, to work collaboratively should be applauded rather than belittled – innocent civilians caught up in Syria’s relentless civil war have no one else to turn to in their hour of need.