(11 Apr 2017) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: AP CLIENTS ONLY
US POOL - AP CLIENTS ONLY
Lucca - 11 April 2017
1. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sitting down for briefing
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rex Tillerson, US Secretary of State:
"Last week (Syrian President) Bashar al-Assad's regime killed even more of its own people using chemical weapons. Our missile strike in response to his repeated use of banned weapons was necessary as a matter of US national security interest. We do not want the regime's uncontrolled stockpile of chemical weapons to fall into the hands of ISIS (Islamic State group) or other terrorist groups who could and want to attack the United States or our allies. Nor can we accept the normalisation of the use of chemical weapons by other actors or countries in Syria or elsewhere. The US is grateful for the statements of all our partners, who have expressed support for our timely and proportional response. As events shift, the United States will continue to evaluate its strategic options and opportunities to de-escalate violence across Syria. Many nations look to the Geneva process to resolve the Syrian conflict in a way that produces stability and gives the Syrian people the opportunity to determine their own political future. And our hope is Bashar al-Assad will not be a part of that future. If the Astana ceasefire negotiations become effective towards achieving a durable ceasefire, then the Geneva process has the opportunity to accelerate. To date, Astana has not produced much progress. It's also clear Russia has failed to uphold the agreements that had been entered into under multiple UN Security Council resolutions. These agreements stipulated Russia, as the guarantor of a Syria free of chemical weapons, that they would locate, secure, and destroy all such armaments in Syria. Stockpiles and continued use, demonstrate that Russia has failed in its responsibility to deliver on its 2013 commitment. It is unclear whether Russia failed to take this obligation seriously or Russia has been incompetent. But this distinction doesn't much matter to the dead. We can't let this happen again. To be clear, our military action was a direct response to the Assad regime's barbarism. The United States' priority in Syria and Iraq remains the defeat of ISIS. We are calling on our G7 partners to sustain the fight against ISIS well after the liberation of Mosul and Raqqa. Whether in Iraq and Syria, online, or on the ground in other countries, we must eliminate ISIS. G7 support will be critical. To stabilise Syria we will need the G7's direct participation in the process, helping settle the conflict in Syria, protecting the civilian population and committing to reconstruction that will eventually lead to normalcy for a unified Syria."
3. Wide of Tillerson listening
STORYLINE:
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson issued an ultimatum to Russia on Tuesday: Side with the US and like-minded countries on Syria, or the embattled Syrian leader Bashar Assad.
As he embarked on a trip to Moscow following urgent meetings in Italy with top diplomats at the G7 summit, 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.
Tillerson spoke after a meeting of the "like-minded" countries which 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.
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