Clinton says Assad responsible for 2,000 deaths as US ups pressure on Damascus

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of the US said on Thursday Washington believed Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s government was responsible for more than 2,000 deaths in its crackdown on peaceful protests.

Clinton repeated that the United States believed Assad has lost legitimacy in Syria, and said the US and its allies were working on strategies to apply more pressure beyond new sanctions announced on Thursday, according to Reuters.

Earlier, the United States warned that President Assad had put Syria and the Middle East on a “very dangerous path,” again toughening rhetoric on a crackdown by Damascus. Washington also imposed sanctions on a businessman close to President Assad and his family.

Washington appears to be moving towards a first direct call for Mr. Assad to go, a step it has so far resisted, and is preparing a new round of sanctions against his regime after an escalation of violence in revolt hub of Hama.

“It has become very clear around the world that Assad’s actions place Syria and the region on a very dangerous path,” said White House spokesman Jay Carney, according to AFP.

“Assad is on his way out ... we all need to be thinking about the day after Assad as Syria’s 23 million citizens already are.”

“It is very safe to say that Syria will be a much better place without President Assad.”

Carney had said on Wednesday that Washington had no interest in seeing Mr. Assad survive simply to preserve regional “stability,” hardening its line on a “grotesque” crackdown on dissent.

Some analysts have speculated that Washington has been wary of directly calling for Mr. Assad to quit because of anxiety that sectarian chaos, civil war and a Middle East power vacuum might follow the demise of his regime.

Others say that the US government has very limited leverage to impact the political situation in Syria, whether it calls for Assad’s ouster or not.

On Wednesday, the UN Security Council issued a statement condemning “the widespread violations of human rights and the use of force against civilians by the Syrian authorities.”

Witnesses and activists said security forces killed at least 37 people on Wednesday, 30 of them as tanks shelled Hama.

Washington, meanwhile, stepped up the pressure on Syria, imposing sanctions on a businessman close to President Assad and his family, AFP reported.

The move freezes the US assets of Muhammad Hamsho and his company, Hamsho International Group, and prohibits US entities from engaging in any business dealings with them, the Treasury Department said in a statement.

The government said Mr. Hamsho was “one of Syria’s top businessmen” with interests in multiple sectors and a “close business associate” of Assad’s brother Mahir, serving as a “frontman” for him and a number of his businesses.

“Muhammad Hamsho earned his fortune through his connections to regime insiders,” said the US undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, David Cohen.

“During the current unrest, he has cast his lot with Bashar Al Assad, Maher Al Assad and others responsible for the Syrian government’s violence and intimidation against the Syrian people,” Mr. Cohen added.

President Barack Obama signed an executive order in May, imposing targeted sanctions on Assad and several high-ranking Syrian government officials for their bloody crackdown on the country’s pro-democracy demonstrators.