US calls for 'mounting' pressure on Syria's Assad
AFP
WASHINGTON- The United States and its allies are looking to increase pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down or allow for a peaceful transition of power, officials said Friday.
President Barack Obama's administration is making it "abundantly clear that international pressure is beginning to build on him (Assad) and that he needs to stop what he's doing or, as the president and others have said, get out of the way," State Department Mark Toner said.
Jay Carney
Assad "has refused to reform, refused even to make any gesture towards reform other than empty rhetoric," Toner added.
"We will continue to look at ways we can up the pressure on him. What's important here is that we make it clear to him that there's growing pressure against his actions."
His remarks came as Syria launched a major military assault on the flashpoint town of Jisr al-Shughur and neighboring villages, after hundreds of area residents streamed across the border into Turkey.
Protesters meanwhile poured into the streets of major cities and towns across Syria after Friday prayers, calling on Assad to step down and expressing solidarity with the residents of Jisr al-Shughur.
Syria has mounted a fierce response to weeks of protests modeled on the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia that ousted long-ruling dictators and inspired the so-called Arab Spring that has swept the region.
"There is mounting pressure, mounting recognition that what's going on in Syria cannot continue," Toner said.
The spokesman mentioned US "contacts" with the Syrian opposition.
"I don't want to get into too much detail, because these people are clearly under tremendous danger in Syria. But at the embassy, we do have contacts with members of the opposition, as well as civil society members," he said, noting Washington was trying to get a better sense of the nature of the opposition.
The US ambassador in Damascus, Robert Ford, has seen his requests for meetings with Syrian government officials repeatedly denied.
On Thursday, Assad came under fire from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a personal friend and longtime ally, who described the treatment of the bodies of women slain by Syrian security forces as an "atrocity."
Erdogan said the brutal crackdown was "unacceptable" and would "necessarily" lead the UN Security Council to step in.
The United States has thrown its weight behind a UN Security Council resolution proposed by Britain and France that condemns Syria for its brutal crackdown on opposition protesters.
But Russia, one of five veto-wielding members of the council, opposes any resolution on Syria.
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