Europe, on Sidelines, Waits for Next Move on Syria

By STEPHEN CASTLE

Published: September 4, 2013

LONDON — Europeans, who prided themselves on a muscular foreign policy in Libya, arrive at this week’s meeting of the Group of 20 nations deflated and divided, waiting for the United States to take the lead on Syria and wondering just how much resistance to intervention Russia will ultimately muster.

Justin Tallis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, left, will attend the Group of 20 gathering this week.

After his parliamentary defeat last week, Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain has lost much of his leverage to address the Syrian conflict, analysts said, while France’s president, François Hollande, is struggling to persuade a skeptical public of the need for military strikes against Syria after what is suspected to be its use of chemical weapons.

That makes the two-day summit meeting, which begins Thursday, the site for a potential standoff between the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin — the host of the gathering in St. Petersburg and a prominent ally of the Syrian leader, President Bashar al-Assad — and President Obama, with the Europeans largely on the sidelines.