The Group of Seven (G-7) countries and their Middle East allies want to further isolate Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
G-7 foreign ministers and their counterparts from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Qatar discussed the conflict in Syria on April 11.
They want to build a united front against Assad.
The meeting comes hours before the U.S. secretary of state visits Russia—Assad’s biggest ally.
Rex Tillerson will be the first high-ranking Trump administration official make a trip to Moscow, which is under pressure to stop supporting Assad.
Assad’s government is blamed for launching an nerve gas attack on a rebel-held town, which killed scores of civilians.
Russia has rejected accusations that Assad used chemical weapons against his own people and has said it will not cut its ties with the Syrian president.
The G-7 is an informal bloc of industrialized democracies—the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom—that meets annually to discuss issues such as global economic governance, international security, and energy policy.
