BICOM

Syrian President Bashar Assad said yesterday that “some mistakes” were made in dealing with anti-government protesters in his country. Assad made the comments yesterday when he met with his Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and the deputy Foreign Ministers of India, Brazil and South Africa. President Assad has been carrying out a crackdown on anti-government protesters that has led to the deaths of 2,000 civilians since March. According to the Financial Times, the US will today call on President Assad to step down. The US has slowly increased pressure on Assad and yesterday imposed sanctions on three top Syrian businesses. “The most important thing that we can do right now is ensure that our actions back up our words … A democratic transition would be better for Syria,” said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. President Barack Obama has previously said that Assad has lost his legitimacy as a leader and that he either needed to implement democratic reforms or step down.

Meanwhile, European members of the Security Council threatened that Syria will face tougher UN action if it did not halt the violence. UK Deputy UN Ambassador, Philip Parham told reporters yesterday that if Assad does not stop attacking protesters Damascus could face strong UN sanctions. Parham said 2,000 mostly unarmed civilians have been killed in Syria, and some 3,000 have “forcibly disappeared.” Parham also accused the Syrian regime of committing “gross” human rights violations, and said there will be no progress as long as security forces continue their operations against protests.