The United States yesterday demanded for the first time that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad steps down and urged its partners to impose crippling economic sanctions in a bid to force him out.
President Barack Obama’s stern message led a chorus of similar calls from Western powers in a sharp escalation of pressure for Mr Assad to halt a bloody five-month crackdown on a prodemocracy uprising inspired by the Arab Spring.
“We have consistently said that President Assad must lead a democratic transition or get out of the way. He has not led. For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside,” Mr Obama said.
Later yesterday, Mr Obama slapped tough new sanctions on Syria in an executive order that freezes all Syrian state assets and forbids investment and exports to the country.
Activists say more than 2,000 have been killed in the government’s brutal response to demonstrators urging an end to four decades of iron-fisted rule by Mr Assad and his father, Hafez al- Assad
But Mr Obama ruled out a military intervention like that of Nato in Libya, stressing that Washington “cannot and will not impose this transition” and will heed Syrians’ “strong desire that there not be foreign intervention.”
Mr Obama imposed a range of economic sanctions, freezing Syrian government assets, banning imports of its oil, and prohibiting US individuals or firms from doing business with Damascus, but with bilateral commerce already at a trickle the effect was likely to be mostly symbolic.
The US President said the punitive measures aimed to “deepen the financial isolation of the Assad regime” but underlined “we expect today’s actions to be amplified by others.”
But the White House said it had “no plans” to recall US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford, who angered the regime with a visit to the flashpoint protest town of Hama before a major assault there this month. Damascus fired back, with Information Ministry spokesman Reem Haddad accusing Mr Obama and the West of “seeking to stoke more violence in Syria”.
The United States has called on the European Union, India and China to impose their own sanctions, which would have a much greater impact, particularly on the oil and gas sector.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton nevertheless said that the sanctions on Syrian oil “strike at the heart of the regime”.
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron jointly called on Mr Assad to step down, with the 27-state European Union simultaneously warning of its own new sanctions.
UN permanent Security Council members Russia and China have meanwhile resisted tough action on Syria, fearing it could lead to a Western military intervention like the Nato campaign against Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi.
US officials, briefing reporters on a conference call, said Washington “can’t predict how long” Mr Assad will hang on but is “certain that (he) is on the way out” as the country awakens from a 40- year “political coma.”
Earlier yesterday, the UN human rights chief said Syria may have committed crimes against humanity and urged the UN Security Council to refer the matter to the International Criminal Court.