Deutsche Welle: G7 Foreign Ministers Push for Peace in Syria, Reject Russia Sanctions

Top diplomats from the G7 member nations met in Italy April 10 and 11 for their annual meeting, discussing global security issues but ultimately not pledging new concrete action with regards to Syria. Due to the recent chemical attack in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun, much of the attention was on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The G7 “unanimously welcomed” the American retaliatory strike and called upon Russia to “realign itself diplomatically” against Assad, reports Deutsche Welle. While the foreign ministers agreed to continue enforcing existing sanctions on Moscow, they did not reach a consensus on new sanctions that the British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson proposed. For Johnson and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the meeting served as a testing ground for both their skills as top diplomats and the new foreign policies from their respective administrations. —YaleGlobal