Tillerson, foreign diplomats hold special session on Syrian crisis

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and a number of prominent foreign diplomats on Tuesday held a special session to discuss the Syrian crisis.

The US secretary of state has arrived in Italy for a meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations.

Tillerson and other foreign ministers, who met in regular session on April 10, convened on April 11 at 8 a.m. local time (0600 GMT) to discuss Syria, Italian news agencies reported.

Along with the G7 members, the foreign ministers of Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Qatar are reportedly took part in the special session.

The G7 consists of the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, Italy, France, and Canada. Russia was part of the G8, but it was ejected in 2014 after its illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region.

News agencies quoted Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano as saying the session devoted to Syria was called in an effort to prevent a "dangerous military escalation" in the six-year-old conflict.

The meeting follows a U.S. missile strike against a Syrian air base on April 7 -- a response to Damascus' alleged chemical weapons attack on its own citizens.

Tillerson is likely to be grilled by his G7 counterparts to clearly set out U.S. policy in Syria.

Source: MENA