President Obama on Thursday issued his most explicit call to date for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down from power after months of the Syrian leader’s brutal assaults on peaceful pro-reform protestors.
In a written statement, Obama urged Assad to resign and announced a host of new sanctions against the Syrian government. Previously, the President and the administration had said only that Assad had lost all credibility to rule Syria.
“The future of Syria must be determined by its people, but President Bashar al-Assad is standing in their way,” Obama said in his statement. “His calls for dialogue and reform have rung hollow while he is imprisoning, torturing, and slaughtering his own people. 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.”
The move was not expected to have an immediate impact on Assad’s assaults on the Syrian people but are designed instead to send a signal of condemnation from the international community and demonstrate that Assad is increasingly isolating himself in the Arab world and beyond.
So far at least, it’s highly unlikely that Obama and members of the international community would be willing to back up their repeated condemnations with military action. The President made it clear Thursday that the U.S. would not be making any unilateral military moves, and an administration official later told reporters that he didn’t think “anybody” believes that ousting Assad through military force was the right move in Syria — “not the U.S. or our allies, nor the people themselves.”
“The United States cannot and will not impose this transition upon Syria,” Obama said in the statement. “It is up to the Syrian people to choose their own leaders, and we have heard their strong desire that there not be foreign intervention in their movement.
“What the United States will support is an effort to bring about a Syria that is democratic, just, and inclusive for all Syrians. We will support this outcome by pressuring President Assad to get out of the way of this transition, and standing up for the universal rights of the Syrian people along with others in the international community.”
The White House also released an executive order outlining the latest U.S. sanctions against Syria, which affect the Syrian government’s U.S.-based properties and holdings. These complement sanctions that the European Union has slapped on 35 Syrian officials, including Assad. The order immediately freezes all assets of the Syrian government subject to U.S. jurisdiction and prohibits Americans from doing business with the country. It also bans U.S. imports of Syrian petroleum or petroleum products.
“We expect today’s actions to be amplified by others,” Obama continued. “…As we have learned these last several months, sometimes the way things have been is not the way that they will be. It is time for the Syrian people to determine their own destiny, and we will continue to stand firmly on their side.
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