Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appeared to shift to a harder line on Syrian President Bashar Assad on Tuesday, telling allies at the G-7 meeting in Italy: "It is clear to all of us that the reign of the Assad family is coming to an end."
"We cannot let this happen again," Tillerson said of the chemical weapons attack allegedly perpetrated by the Assad government that has set off a cascading chain of geopolitical events in the last week.
"The question of how [Assad's rule] ends and the
transition itself could be very important in our view to the
durability, the stability inside of a unified Syria," Tillerson
explained. "That's why we are not presupposing how that occurs."
How much international support Tillerson receives remains to be seen.
The Italian foreign minister, Angelino Alfano,
undercut Tillerson's presentation of the G-7 -- which also includes
France, the U.K., Japan, Germany, Canada and the leadership of the
European Union -- as a united front. The Italians warned against backing
Russia "into a corner" and cautioned: "sanctions are a tool and not an
end in itself."
"At the moment there is no consensus
on new sanctions as an effective instrument," the foreign minister said
of possible new sanctions against Assad or Russia. "There are clearly
different opinions."
As recently as Sunday,
Tillerson appeared to differ from U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and
national security adviser H.R. McMaster on whether Assad needs to be
thrown from power. He told ABC that the eventual goal was for the Syrian
people to "lawfully be able to decide the fate of [Assad]."
But Tuesday he was more forceful, against Assad, and especially his backers -- Russia, Iran and the militant group Hezbollah. Tillerson heads to Moscow Tuesday, but before leaving Italy, he strongly encouraged Russia to abandon Assad, and stand with the U.S. and other "like-minded" nations like those meeting at the G-7.
[READ:
Nikki Haley, Rex Tillerson Offer Different Statements on Assad and Syria]
"We want to relieve the suffering of the Syrian
people. Russia can be a part of that future and play an important role,"
Tillerson said. "Or Russia can maintain its alliance with this group
[Iran and Hezbollah], which we believe is not going to serve Russia's
interests
No comments:
Post a Comment