US calls on Assad to step down

US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Thursday called on Assad to step down.

The United States has once again called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down accusing his government of being authoritarian and brutal against Syrian people.

“For four years the Assad regime has answered Syrians’ calls for freedom and reform with unrelenting brutality, authoritarianism and destruction,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on Thursday.

The Syrian government has been fighting militants and terrorists from various countries. The United States and its regional allies - especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey - are supporting the militants operating inside the country.

The foreign-backed opposition and its Western supporters have insisted that Assad must step down and a transitional government be formed in Syria as part of any peace deal aimed at ending the crisis in the Arab country.

However, Damascus has rejected such demands, arguing that the groups backed by foreign powers and based overseas do not represent the true Syrian opposition.

Psaki extolled the militants fighting against the Syrian government saying Syria won’t be stable as long as Assad is in power. "As we have long said, Assad must go and be replaced through a negotiated, political transition that is representative of the Syrian people."

On Friday, the State Department will host a meeting attended by the Syrian opposition leaders including Ghassan Hitto, who had been proclaimed by the divided Syrian National Coalition (SNC) as “prime minister” and tasked to form an “interim government”. Hitto eventually resigned on July 8, 2013.

On March 5, Secretary of State John Kerry said military pressure may be necessary to oust Assad, indicating that Washington is still seeking a “regime change” in the Arab country.

Syrian Minister of National Reconciliation Affairs Ali Haidar said on Tuesday that any effort aimed at reconciling the conflicting sides in Syria should be carried out within the country, stressing that any action taken to that end outside of Syria will be “fruitless”.

Assad, who was re-elected last year, has said only Syrians have the right to determine the future of their country.

According to the United Nations, more than 200,000 people have been killed and millions displaced due to the turmoil that has gripped Syria for nearly four years.

AT/AT

 


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