The foreign ministers from the Group Seven (G-7) countries; United States, Japan, Germany, Italy, France, United Kingdom, and Canada began their two-day meeting in Italy yesterday in a bid to unite their response to Syria and Russia.

• UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that after last week’s US strikes on Syria, Moscow has two choices; either to stick like glue to the murderous Assad regime or to work with the rest of the world to find political solutions.
• US secretary of state Rex Tillerson called Assad’s regime murderous and vows to confront any nation committing a crime against civilians.

G7 ministers are likely to reach a common ground to harden stance against Russia, however, considerable differences remain when it comes to imposing sanctions.

• Some diplomats think that it best to use dialogues with Russia to persuade it to end its support for Assad rather than sanctions, use of which might push Russia further into isolation and would make it become a more closer ally with the Assad regime.
• The UK called for further sanctions on Russian officials working with the Assad regime.

The meeting is continuing today and a joint statement is likely to get released after the end of the summit.