BY REUTERS
U.S. and Britain reiterate calls for a ceasefire after years of war.
A general view taken with a drone shows Aleppo's historic citadel, controlled by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, as seen from a rebel-held area of Aleppo, Syria, October 12.ABDALRHMAN ISMAIL/REUTERS
Britain and the United States
said on Sunday they were considering imposing additional sanctions on Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad and his supporters for their actions in Syria's war.
British Foreign Secretary Boris
Johnson and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking after briefing allies
in London on a new diplomatic initiative on Syria, also called on Russia and
Iran to agree to a new ceasefire.
The threat of more sanctions
on Syria came before a European Union summit on Thursday and Friday to discuss
sanctions against Russia.
"There's a lot of
measures we're proposing to do with extra sanctions on the Syrian regime and
their supporters, measures to bring those responsible for war crimes to the
International Criminal Court," Johnson told reporters after talks he
convened with his U.S counterpart and allies on Syria. "These things
will eventually come to bite the perpetrators of these crimes, and they should
think about it now," said Johnson, adding there was no appetite in Europe
for going to war in Syria.
He said it was "highly
dubious" that Syrian government forces backed by Russia were capable of
retaking the city of Aleppo or winning the war, and called on Russia and Iran
to show leadership by agreeing to a ceasefire.
"It is up to them to show
mercy, show mercy to those people in that city and get the ceasefire
going," he added.
He spoke alongside Kerry, who
briefed European and other allies on a new diplomatic initiative involving
Russia and a group of Middle Eastern nations aimed at ending the fighting in
Syria. The first round of talks in the Swiss city of Lausanne failed to agree
on a strategy for ending the violence soon.
Kerry confirmed the U.S. was
considering additional sanctions over Syria, but did not name Russia as a
target.
Western powers have accused
Russia and Syria of committing atrocities by bombing hospitals, killing
civilians and preventing medical evacuations, as well as targeting an aid
convoy with the loss of around 20 lives.
Syria and Russia say they are
only targeting militants in Aleppo and accuse the United States of breaking the
ceasefire by bombing scores of Syrian troops fighting Islamic State (ISIS)
insurgents, over which the United States has expressed regret.
"We are considering
additional sanctions, and we are also making clear that President (Barack)
Obama has not taken any options off the table at this point in time,"
Kerry said.
Washington suspended bilateral
discussions with Moscow over Syria following two attempts at implementing a
ceasefire and growing tensions in their relationship.
With the U.S. presidential
election less than a month away and Obama unwilling to assume a deeper role in
the Syrian war, Kerry is trying to build a broader dialogue involving key
regional players in the Syrian conflict.
The U.S. and its allies have
urged Moscow to use its influence with the Syrian government to end the
bombardment of Aleppo.
"There is some work to be
done over the course of the next couple of days which might, or one might hope,
open the door of possibility to an actual cessation," Kerry
said. "It's hard, and it's hard because there are still deep beliefs
in a lot of people that Russia is simply pursuing a Grozny solution in Aleppo
and is not prepared to truly engage in any way."
Moscow all but destroyed
Grozny, the capital of Russia's Chechnya region, during its 1999-2000 war
against Islamist separatists there.
The United States first
imposed sanctions against Syrian government officials in March 2011 shortly
after the uprising that led to the civil war.
In 2013, Washington eased some
of the restrictions to allow for reconstruction in opposition-held areas.
Both the EU and the United
States have already imposed economic and other sanctions on Russia for its
seizure of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, and for its support for
pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.
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