US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May have agreed that a "window of opportunity" exists to convince Russian Federation to end its support for embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
After seeing images of the horrific aftermath of the chemical attack, Trump ordered a bombardment of the Shayrat airbase in western Syria, which the U.S. believes was the launchpad for the strike.
Nikki Haley, the USA ambassador to the United Nations, insisted on Saturday that the US will push for the removal of Assad, saying that there are "multiple priorities" in the region (namely ousting Assad and defeating ISIS). Just a little more than a week ago, top administration officials were signaling that removing Assad is no longer a US priority.
"We have a shared interest particularly in the area of ISIS". Thirdly, get the Iranian influence out.
"If you look at his actions, if you look at the situation, it's going to be hard to see a government that's peaceful and stable with Assad", she said.
"If Russia or any other country can help us achieve those two goals, either through market access on additional products and services from the U.S. into a major marketplace, but more importantly help to keep our country safe through a combined effort to defeat something like the ISIS, especially in a place like Syria where they're playing so prominently, then I think we want to work with them", Spicer said.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the U.S. and Russian Federation have common interest in defeating the Islamic State militant group. The U.S. strikes drew support from other Western leaders who have been uncertain what to make of Trump's foreign policy.
Tillerson said Tuesday that Russian Federation must choose between aligning itself with the US or with Assad and Iran.
Russian Federation has claimed Tuesday's deaths in Khan Sheikhoun were caused by a Syrian regime airstrike on a rebel-controlled chemical weapons facility.
It is true that the Kremlin has variously suggested that last week's attack was a "false-flag" effort meant to frame Assad and that it was the accidental result of the Syrian government bombing a terrorist ammunition depot that happened to contain chemical weapons. "And the missile strike really came as a shock and will overshadow the talks".
Many G7 countries, including Germany andCanada, maintain that Assad must be taken out of power to achieve peace in Syria.
"We have reports from multiple sources that false flags like this one - and I can not call it otherwise - are being prepared in other parts of Syria, including the southern suburbs of Damascus", Putin said Tuesday of last week's gas attack in Idlib, at a press conference with Italian president Sergio Mattarella.
G7 powers aim to push Russian Federation to abandon Assad
Assad's position on the battlefield became far stronger after Russian Federation joined the war to support him in 2015. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson had championed the idea but it was blocked by the Germany, Italy and France.
A USA military official told CNN the Pentagon was examining specifically whether a Russian warplane had bombed a hospital in Khan Sheikhoun five hours after the initial chemical attack, with the aim of destroying evidence.
"Russia's allegations fit with a pattern of deflecting blame from the regime and attempting to undermine the credibility of its opponents", the report read.
"From now on we will respond with force to any aggressor or any breach of red lines from whoever it is and America knows our ability to respond well", the statement said. "Russian Federation and Iran will not allow America to dominate the world", the statement said.
Russia's General Staff says the Syrian government is willing to let global experts to examine its military base for signs of chemical weapons.
"Either they knew that there were chemical weapons and they knew there was going to be chemical weapon use, and they just hid it from the worldwide community, or they are being played for fools by Assad - by him having chemical weapons and they're just in the dark and they don't know anything about it", she said. The report exhaustively rebuts the latter narrative, claiming that the US has obtained video and satellite imagery that shows a chemical weapon was dropped into the middle of a road.
Yet there were no guarantees Tillerson's arguments would prove any more successful than the Obama administration's failed effort to peel Russian Federation away from its Syrian ally.
Tillerson plans to meet Wednesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
"Lavrov stressed that an attack on a country whose government is fighting terrorism only plays into the hands of extremists creates additional threats to regional and global security", the statement said.
Ahead of the full meeting, Tillerson held bilateral talks with G-7 counterparts including Britain's Johnson, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida.
U.S. officials said the strike against the Shayrat airbase hit aircraft, fuel storage, weapons dumps and other equipment, and was aimed at sending a message to the Syrian regime that the use of chemical weapons would not be tolerated.
Trump tweeted in defense on Saturday night that targeting a runway made little sense and they were easily repaired.
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