British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday called for the removal from power of Bashar al-Assad.
“Assad is not a strongman but a frighteningly weak leader who can never again hold his country together? Not after the slaughter he has engaged in,” the foreign minister wrote in The Times newspaper.
Johnson accused Assad of “barbaric military tactics” in the ongoing conflict and criticized Russia’s “seemingly indefensible conduct” of backing Bashar al-Assad.
“The entire international community is committed, at least in principle, to getting rid of the Syrian dictator. Even the Russians have accepted that there must be political transition.
“But then the Russians are also employing their military muscle to prevent him from losing and to keep him in power,” Johnson wrote.
The foreign minister’s comments were published ahead of a meeting in London with Syria’s opposition High Negotiations Commission, which was expected to unveil its framework for political transition later on Wednesday.
The five-and-a-half-year conflict has forced more than 4.8 people to flee Syria, according to figures from the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR.

Source: AFP, 7 September 2016