G20 summit-Syria divides world’s leaders

The G20 meeting, which convened yesterday in St Petersburg, Russia, is being overshadowed by the Syrian crisis.

US President Barack Obama appeared to go to the summit with a somewhat strengthened political hand after the Senate foreign relations committee’s decision authorising him to use military force against Syria.

Eamon Gilmore, the foreign affairs minister, stated in an RTÉ interview that he agrees something must be done about Syria, but he clearly feels that other options should be seriously explored before the US resorts to military intervention. Mr Gilmore called for those responsible for the chemical attack in August to be brought before the international criminal court. He emphasised that what is happening in Syria is a great humanitarian disaster. More than 100,000 people have been killed in the civil war, and over 6m people have been driven into exile or displaced within Syria itself.