Lucca, Italy — G7 foreign ministers insisted that there can be no peace solution for war-torn Syria with President Bashar Al-Assad in power, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Tuesday.
The ministers, meeting in Italy as US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson readies for crunch talks in Moscow, agreed that “no future in Syria is possible with Bashar Al-Assad”, Ayrault told reporters.
He said the message for Russia was: “That’s enough now. There must be an end to hypocrisy and a very clear return to the political process”.
“This is not an aggressive stance toward Russia, rather a hand out-held, with clear intentions,” he said.
The United States has hardened its stance on Damascus since a suspected chemical weapons on a rebel-held Syrian town that killed at least 87 civilians and triggered a retaliatory US bombing raid on a Syrian air base.
The West is also pushing for Russia to rein in the Syrian regime, with the war now in its seventh year.
Ayrault was speaking at the close of the two-day ministerial meeting of the G7 which groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
The group also held a special meeting on Syria on Tuesday with counterparts from Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the UAE.
Tillerson also said the US sees no place for Assad in any peace resolution for the war-torn country.
As the G7 called at a meeting in Italy for a diplomatic push to resolve the conflict and create a lasting peace for a unified Syria, Tillerson said: “Our hope is Bashar Al-Assad will not be part of that future.”
“As events shift, the United States will continue to evaluate its strategic options and opportunities to de-escalate violence across Syria,” added Tillerson.
Tillerson said Russia should abandon its support for Assad.
“Russia has aligned with the Assad regime, the Iranians and Hezbollah. Is that a long-term alliance that serves Russia’s interest?” Tillerson said to reporters in Lucca, Italy, calling the use of a nerve agent an act of “barbarism”.
“We hope that the Russian government concludes that they have aligned themselves with an unreliable partner in Bashar Al-Assad.... It is clear to us the reign of the Assad family is coming to an end,” he added.
Tillerson said Russia had failed to act as guarantor for a 2013 agreement to rid Syria of chemical weapons, which remain a threat amid the “chaotic conditions on the ground in Syria”. — Agencies
