West presents united front to further isolate Syria’s Assad

us President Barack Obama, the leaders of Britain, France and Germany and the European Union joined yesterday to demand that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad resign, saying his brutal suppression of his people had made him unfit to lead.

The co-ordinated messages from Washington, London, Paris, Berlin and Brussels came with tough new US sanctions freezing all Syrian government assets in America and targeting Syria’s lucrative energy sector.

The moves intensified already mounting pressure on Mr Assad, who has refused to ease a ruthless crackdown on a five-month uprising and has backed away from promises of reform. Instead, he has unleashed his security forces on numerous cities, killing nearly 2,000 people, many of them civilians.

The resignation calls were the first explicit demands from the West for Mr Assad to step down although condemnation of his actions had been mounting for weeks since the regime ordered a sustained assault on its opponents on the eve of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan which began in early August.

In a written statement, Mr Obama said Mr Assad had lost all credibility as a leader.

He said: “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.”

Mr Obama later signed an executive order that authorises sweeping new sanctions on Syria intended to further isolate the regime. The order immediately bans the import into the US of any Syrian petroleum or petroleum products. Syria is not a huge source of oil for the US, but if European countries join the effort, it could significantly affect one of the regime’s top sources of revenue. Syrian crude oil exports go mostly to Germany, Italy and France.

Prime Minister David Cameron, French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel issued a joint statement saying that Mr Assad should “leave power in the greater interests of Syria and the unity of his people”.

Europe’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said “the EU notes the complete loss of Bashar al-Assad’s legitimacy in the eyes of the Syrian people and the necessity for him to step aside.”

The sanctions “further tighten the circle of isolation” and “strike at the heart of the regime,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at the State Department.

“We understand the strong desire of the Syrian people that no foreign country should intervene in their struggle, and we respect their wishes,” Mrs Clinton said. “At the same time, we will do our part to support their aspirations for a Syria that is democratic, just and inclusive, and we will stand up for their universal rights and dignity by pressuring the regime and Assad personally.”

The White House had planned to make yesterday’s announcement last week but postponed it at the request of Syria’s neighbour Turkey, which asked for time to try to convince Mr Assad to reform.

Turkish premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared Mr Assad to Libya’s Colonel Muammar Gaddafi for refusing to change. He had spoken to Mr Assad and sent his foreign minister to Damascus, but “despite all of this, they are continuing to strike civilians”.