US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson carried a unified message from world powers to Moscow on Tuesday, denouncing Russian support for Syria and taking up America’s traditional role as leader of the West on behalf of Donald Trump’s administration.
Tillerson met on Tuesday in Italy with foreign ministers from the Group of Seven major advanced economies, joined by Middle East allies to forge a united position on Syria, which has been catapulted to the top of the international agenda since a poison gas attack killed 87 people a week ago.
Western countries blame Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the gas attack, and Trump responded by firing cruise missiles at a Syrian air base. That has put his administration in open conflict with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has stood firmly by Moscow’s ally Assad, who denies blame.
Tillerson‘s role as messenger for a united G7 position marks a turning point for Trump, who in the past alarmed allies by expressing scepticism about the value of US support for traditional friends, while calling for closer ties with Moscow.
Tillerson himself is a former boss of the oil company Exxon Mobil which has gigantic projects in Russia. He was awarded Russia’s ‘Order of Friendship’ by Putin in 2012.
On Monday, British Prime Minister Theresa May spoke to Trump, with both agreeing that there was “a window of opportunity” to persuade Russia to break ties with Assad, May’s office said.
Trump also spoke by telephone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel about the US strike on a Syrian airbase last week and thanked her for her support.
“I think we have to show a united position and that in these negotiations we should do all we can to get Russia out of Assad’s corner, at least to the point that they are ready to participate in finding a political solution,” German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Monday.
“It is the right moment to talk about this, how the international community, with Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Europe, with the US, can drive forward a peace process for Syria and avoid further military escalation of the conflict.”
Britain and Canada said financial sanctions, imposed on Russia in 2014 over its annexation of territory from Ukraine, could be tightened if Moscow continued to back Assad. Multi-billion dollar Russian oil projects by Tillerson‘s former firm Exxon are among the biggest deals held up by sanctions.
ADDITIONAL STRIKES
The United States said its strike on the Syrian airbase near Homs on Friday was a one-off, and not a strategic shift. But the White House has also said Trump could authorise more strikes if Syria uses chemical weapons again.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer indicated on Monday that Washington could also retaliate if Syria uses “barrel bombs” – oil drums packed with explosives dropped from aircraft.
“When you watch babies and children being gassed, and suffer under barrel bombs, you are instantaneously moved to action,” he said. “I think this president’s made it very clear that if those actions were to continue, further action will definitely be considered by the United States.”
Retaliating for barrel bombs would require a major shift in US policy since rebels say the weapons are used almost daily.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said Syrian warplanes dropped barrel bombs on rebel-held areas of Hama province on Tuesday. Syria has always denied using barrel bombs, though their use has been widely recorded by UN investigators. A source in the Syrian military denied it used them on Tuesday.
Assad’s allies have been robust in standing by him. A joint command centre made up of the forces of Russia, Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia said on Sunday that the US strike crossed “red lines”. The alliance supporting the Syrian president would respond to any new aggression and increase its support for its ally, it said.
The missile attack has increased expectations that Trump is ready to adopt a tougher stance with respect to Russia, and that he is ready to engage in world affairs instead of following the more isolationist position he had previously taken.
Up until the chemical attack, Trump had said Washington would no longer act as the world’s guardian, especially if it was not in the interests of the United States.
On Monday, Tillerson visited the site of a World War Two Nazi massacre in Italy and said Washington would never let such abuses go unchallenged.
“We rededicate ourselves to holding to account any and all who commit crimes against the innocents anywhere in the world,” Tillerson told reporters in Sant’Anna di Stazzema.
