Britain And US Press Putin To Ditch Assad

Russia has been told it must choose between aligning itself with the US and like-minded countries or embracing Syrian President Bashar Assad, Iran and militant group Hezbollah.

The ultimatum came from US secretary of state Rex Tillerson as he embarked on a trip to Moscow following urgent meetings in Italy with top diplomats.

Mr Tillerson said it was unclear whether Russia had failed to take seriously its obligation to rid Syria of chemical weapons or had merely been incompetent, but he said the distinction "doesn't much matter to the dead".

"We cannot let this happen again," the secretary of state said.

"We want to relieve the suffering of the Syrian people. Russia can be a part of that future and play an important role."

Mr Tillerson added:

"Or Russia can maintain its alliance with this group, which we believe is not going to serve Russia's interests longer term."

Since the US launched air strikes against Assad's forces in retaliation for a chemical attack on civilians last week, Trump administration officials have offered mixed messages about whether Washington believes Assad definitely must surrender power - and when.

Mr Tillerson said it was clear the US saw no role for Assad in Syria's future, given that he had lost legitimacy.

"It is clear to all of us that the reign of the Assad family is coming to an end."

"But the question of how that ends and the transition itself could be very important in our view to the durability, the stability inside of a unified Syria."

"That's why we are not presupposing how that occurs," Mr Tillerson added.

He said the ceasefire talks that Russia and Iran have helped broker in the Kazakh capital, Astana, could generate momentum towards broader talks about a political transition - if the Astana talks succeed in creating a durable ceasefire.

The resulting political talks would take place under the auspices of the United Nations process in Geneva.

"To date, Astana has not achieved much progress," Mr Tillerson said.

Mr Tillerson spoke after a meeting of the "like-minded" countries was hastily arranged on the sidelines of the summit of the Group of Seven industrialised economies in Italy, days after the US for the first time launched air strikes against Assad's forces.

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's call for targeted sanctions against senior Russian and Syrian figures was by his fellow G7 foreign ministers at the meeting in Lucca.

The group said there must be an investigation into last week's chemical weapons incident in a rebel-held town before new measures could be adopted, according to a UK Government source.

The source insisted the option of sanctions remained on the table, but the outcome will come as a disappointment to the Government, which had hoped to strengthen the hand of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson as he prepares to confront the Russians over their support for Syria.

The Government had hoped that by targeting sanctions against military figures, they would overcome German and Italian objections to the adoption of wider measures against Russia and Syria.

Earlier, Theresa May and US President Donald Trump agreed in a telephone call that there was a "window of opportunity" to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to abandon his Syrian ally when Mr Tillerson travels to Moscow.

Italian foreign minister Angelino Alfano said the summit had been "a political success" and leaders would use a "window of opportunity" created by last week's US missile strike against the regime to revitalise political talks.

He said: "There was a prevalent position, which is very similar to the Italian one. We must have a dialogue with Russia and we must not push Russia into a corner.

"We must also ask Putin to demand the credit that has been up to now granted to Assad and in fact we think that the Russian's have the strength that is needed to put pressure on Assad and to get him to observe the commitments with regard to the ceasefire."