Protests against the crackdown in Syria. Photo credit: Yunchung Lee, www.flickr.com/photos/bleuman/5706355818/
Barack Obama has called for Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to step down. The US president’s statement came amid growing international condemnation of the military assault on Syrian protestors. UK Prime Minister David Cameron, German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy issued a joint statement also urging Assad to relinquish power. But will this be enough to end the violent crackdown?
- Condemnation. Previously, the US has steered away from asking Assad to resign, focussing instead on the possibility of reform. Now, however, The Guardian reported that Obama has unequivocally called for Assad to leave office, quoting the US president: “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.” Obama also declared that the US was increasing sanctions against the country. Over at The Washington Post, Scott Wilson examined the timeline of the US’s “long and deliberate build-up” to the recent statement, pointing out that it has taken five months for the US to hone in on Assad.
- Caution. Russia has criticised calls by world leaders for Assad’s resignation, according to The Associated Press. “Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement that Russia believes Assad must be given sufficient time to fulfill promises of reform as he has already made ‘some significant steps’ — including lifting the state of emergency and issuing a decree allowing peaceful demonstrations,” wrote Vladimir Isachenko.
- Violence continues. President Assad told UN chief Ban Ki-moon that military action has ceased, according to the BBC. But The New York Times subsequently reported that 16 people had been killed during protests across the country, “including some soldiers who disobeyed orders to shoot at protesters”. Meanwhile, the UN has released a report on the use of force against protestors in Syria, based on witness testimony. The UN high commissioner on human rights recommended referring Syria to the International Criminal Court, according to Al Jazeera.
- Isolation. Writing for Reuters, Alistair Lyon argued that the Syrian president looks unlikely to heed calls for his resignation and that “more bloodshed seems inevitable”. However, Lyon also suggested that the increasing condemnation from other nations may help sway as-yet-undecided Syrians to the cause of the protestors: “Deepening international isolation might persuade some of the many Syrians who have sat on the fence during the turmoil that Assad’s days in the presidential palace are numbered.” A Guardian editorial made a similar point, arguing that military intervention by the US or Europe is not credible: “The hope must be that some elements in the regime will have the common sense to realise that the only way out of the impasse… is to shed the leader identified with policies which may have achieved momentary physical control but have irrevocably alienated large parts of the population.”
