Boris Johnson says talks with Russia on Syria have 'run out of road'

London will host foreign ministers for emergency summit on Aleppo
End of the road: Boris Johnson gives evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee
PA

Talks with Russia over the Syria conflict have “run out of road” and new options including military intervention must now be explored, Boris Johnson said today.

The Foreign Secretary sought to galvanise the West to act to “end the hell” in the besieged city of Aleppo and other parts of the war-ravaged country.

He is to host an emergency summit of foreign ministers, including US Secretary of State John Kerry, in London on Sunday to discuss the crisis as the death toll in Aleppo rises.

“We have to do something,” Mr Johnson told MPs.

Appearing before the Commons foreign affairs committee, he signalled that the West will consider more “kinetic action” in Syria, which could include enforcing a no-fly zone to stop the bombing and killings.

“Most people, and I think including John Kerry, feel that the process of discussion with the Russians has basically run out of road and on Sunday we will be talking about all the options that we think are available to us and to the West,” he said.

“I’m not going to pretend that there is any easy answer here.

“But I think most people are now changing their minds about this and they are thinking we can’t let this go on forever, we can’t just see Aleppo pulverised in this way. We have to do something.

“Whether that means we can get a coalition together for more kinetic action now, I cannot prophesize, but certainly what most people want to see is a new set of options.”

He believes the mood in the Commons has changed since it voted against military action in Syria in the summer of 2013 after Bashar Assad’s regime allegedly used chemical weapons on its own people.

A source close to Mr Johnson added: “The Foreign Secretary wants to get momentum going for some solutions to end the hell in Syria and has called Kerry and other ministers to London to get on with this.”

An estimated 400,000 people have died in the five-year civil war, with millions forced to flee their homes. Mr Kerry will meet Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Geneva on Saturday but hopes of a breakthrough to re-impose a ceasefire which collapsed weeks ago are very slim.

While Mr Johnson’s intervention will increase the pressure on Moscow, any greater military involvement in Syria is not expected until after next month’s US presidential elections.

Imposing a no-fly zone, without the backing of Russia, would also risk escalating the conflict if its planes clashed with those of a US-led coalition.

Meanwhile, Russia’s ambassador to the UN said Moscow regretted any civilian casualties in the bombing of Aleppo but added: “This is what happens during war.”

Vitaly Churkin also unleashed a stinging attack on Mr Johnson after he called for protests outside the country’s embassy in London over its military action in Syria.

Nearly 150 people have been killed in the past two days in renewed bombing of rebel-held eastern Aleppo, according to Ammar al Selmo, the head of the civil defence rescue service.

Mr Churkin insisted that Russian planes were targeting Islamic State and al Qaeda-linked terrorists and that the bombing was not indiscriminate. But several hospitals have been hit and heart-breaking images of children being pulled from rubble have been beamed around the world.

The Syrian regime has been accused of dropping barrel bombs from helicopters and Russian jets of destroying an aid convoy heading for Aleppo.

Mr Johnson has warned Russia it risks becoming a “pariah” state with its intervention. Mr Churkin described his appeal for embassy protests as “quite inappropriate for a Foreign Secretary”.

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