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        Obama calls on Syria's Assad to step down

        Updated: 2011-08-18 22:54

        (Agencies)

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        WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama on Thursday for the first time called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

        "For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside," Obama said in an executive order imposing sanctions to freeze all Syrian government assets under US jurisdiction and bar US transactions with Assad's government.

        The moves are intended to ratchet up pressure on Assad, who has used his military and security forces to attack protesters seeking an end to four decades of authoritarian rule by the Syrian president and his late father, Hafez al-Assad.

        While the United States has previously called for Assad to embark on democratic reforms or to get out of the way, Obama's statement marks the first explicit call for him to go and seems to reflect a US conclusion that he is incapable of reform.

        The US sanctions and demand for Assad's exit were followed by a call from Britain, France and Germany -- three of the European Union's leading powers -- for Assad to go.

        The new US sanctions immediately freeze all Syrian government assets subject to US jurisdiction and prohibit any any transactions involving the Assad government.

        They also ban US imports of Syrian petroleum or petroleum products -- a tiny fraction of US oil imports -- and prohibit US citizens from operating or investing in Syria.

        The United States has already imposed several rounds of sanctions on Assad and other Syrian officials and financial institutions but these are believed to have had little impact given the limited nature of US-Syrian dealings.

        The United States has long accused Syria of being a state sponsor of terrorism, of meddling in the affairs of Lebanon, supporting Palestinian militants and fomenting violence against US forces in Iraq.

         

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