G7 foreign ministers gather in Italy as Boris Johnson urges them to pressure Russia into ending support for Assad
Comes as Foreign Secretary warned that America could unleash further strikes in the fight to weaken the regime
THE FOREIGN ministers of the G7 nations are gathering it Italy today as Boris Johnson gets set to urge them into pressuring Russia to end support for Bashar al-Assad.
It comes as the Foreign Secretary is facing continued criticism for his decision to pull out of a trip to Moscow to face down Vladimir Putin over Syria.
Instead he has spent the weekend on the telephone to his counterparts at the other leading nations ahead of the two-day meeting in Tuscany.
Critics claimed cancelling planned talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov following discussions with the US left him looking "daft" and as though he "can't be trusted".
And Liberal Democrat former leader Lord Campbell said pulling out of the talks had been a "gross miscalculation" and was "frankly inexplicable";.
He told BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour: "I doubt very much Mr Johnson had the authority to make that decision himself.
"It must have been a decision made at the highest level in government, doubtless with the Prime Minister and frankly I find it inexplicable.”
MOST READ IN POLITICS
In response a UK government source said: "The important thing is that this is Britain helping to influence US policy on Syria and Russia, far from being a poodle.
"Three months ago Syria wasn't really an issue for them but our push and recent events have made a difference."
Instead the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will deliver a "clear and co-ordinated" message to the Kremlin, after he meets with the other G7 ministers in the walled city of Lucca.
During the talks Mr Johnson will say that Assad has no future in Syria, Russia must stop supporting the regime and a plan to rebuild the country must be drawn up.
Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano, who is hosting the meeting, said Europe's broad support for the US military strikes had contributed to a "renewed harmony" between America and its partners.
And after Donald Trump ordered a series of missile strikes on a Syrian airfield after the barbaric chemical attack in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun, he warmed America could strike again.
Discussing the President's response to the attack, something described by Assad's allies as having crossed a "red line", Mr Johnson told The Sun: "Crucially - they could do so again.
"We cannot miss this moment. It is time for Putin to face the truth about the tyrant he is still propping up."
Mr Putin and Iranian leader Hassan Rouhani said American military intervention was a "violation of international law" during telephone talks backing the Syrian regime.
An arm of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah issued a statement it claimed was on behalf of Russia, Iran and its allies, vowing to "reply with force" to any future aggression "in a variety of ways".