London: West planning sanctions against Assad regime

LONDON (AA) – Western nations are considering sanctions against the Syrian regime “and its supporters”, which might include Russia, U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Sunday.
Johnson said after talks in London with U.S. and European foreign ministers the measures were being considered in an attempt to stop Russia and the Assad regime’s offensive against rebel-held neighborhoods in Aleppo.

But he appeared to dampen expectations of further Western military involvement in Syria, saying there was a “lack of political appetite” in most European capitals to enforce a no-bombing, no-fly zone over the city.

France, Germany, Italy, Turkey and a number of Gulf countries were also represented at Sunday’s talks.

In a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry after the four-hour meeting ended, Johnson said the situation was getting “worse and worse” in eastern parts of Aleppo city, were tens of thousands of people are reported to be trapped.

“The real answer, I'm afraid lies with the people who are perpetrating it. And that is overwhelmingly the Assad regime and its puppeteers in the form of the Russians and indeed the Iranians,” Johnson said in his remarks, broadcast by ITV News on Sunday.

The sanctions could involve bringing perpetrators of war crimes before the International Criminal Court, he said.

Kerry told the conference the situation was the largest humanitarian disaster since the Second World War.

“It could stop tomorrow morning, tonight, if Russia and the Assad regime were to behave according to any norm or any standard of decency,” he said.