A diplomatic summit in Istanbul, bringing together the main members of the Friends of Syria group, the U.S., Italy, France, UK and Germany, was called by the Turkish government. Italy is to be represented by Minister Giulio Terzi.
A meeting of the principal partners in the Friends of Syria will be held on Wednesday in Istanbul on the initiative of the Turkish government, where Terzi and Fabius will join the foreign ministers of the U.S., the UK, Germany and Turkey. The countries most engaged on the issue of the Syrian crisis include current Arab League president Qatar, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The meeting takes place immediately prior to the international conference on counter-terrorism planned for Thursday in Istanbul to be chaired by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Ten days on from the massacre at Houla
The meeting on Syria is taking place as tension mounts, following the massacre at Houla ten days ago that took the lives of 108 civilians, half of whom were children. The concept of an international military intervention similar to the one in Libya seems to have been ruled out for the moment, while Minister Terzi recently proposed tougher sanctions against the Damascus government and the greater involvement of the International Criminal Court.
