Foreign Ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) countries and several other West Asian countries spoke with one voice at a meeting in Lucca, Italy, condemning last week’s chemical attack in Syria that left 89 people dead. The U.S. and its allies hold Syrian President Bhashar al-Assad responsible for the attacks.
The G7 also lent support to the U.S. for its attack on the Syrian government-controlled Shayrat airfield in Homs province last Thursday.
While the G7 united to isolate Mr. Assad diplomatically and urged Russia to do the same, no agreement was reached on sanctions against Russia for supporting the Syrian regime.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson had sought support for additional financial sanctions against specific individuals from Russia and Syria, but failed to secure the support of the G7 for his proposal. “There is no consensus at this time for new sanctions as an efficient method to reach our goal,” Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano said.
No dramatic change
Some experts believe that the chemical attack and the U.S. strike may not change the situation in Syria dramatically. “We are likely to find that the major calculations of the U.S., Russia and other international actors with a major interest in Syria haven’t really been altered fundamentally,” Tim Eaton, a specialist on West Asia at the London-based think tank, Chatham House, told The Hindu on Tuesday. “What really shouldn’t be lost is that one form of really egregious weaponry is unlikely to be used by the [Syrian] regime again. So while we are not seeing the Syrian conflict come closer to a resolution over this, I think it is still important to note that that is a minor success.”
