BICOM

As the Syrian government’s violent crackdown on anti-government protesters continues, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called for tougher international sanctions on the regime in an interview with CBS yesterday. “What we really need to do to put the pressure on Assad is to sanction the oil and gas industry,” Clinton said in the interview with CBS. “We want to see Europe take more steps in that direction and we want to see China take steps with us. We want to see India.” This week Washington widened sanctions on Syria, targeting its main commercial bank and mobile phone company, but US businesses have minor involvement in Syria, so unilateral sanctions have little effect. The US is trying to amass international support for sanctions against Syria’s oil and gas sector, which provide as much as a third of the regime’s revenues, but has so far been unable to convince other countries to join the effort.

Clinton’s appeal came amid reports of more shelling in the eastern Syrian city of Deir Ezzor and deaths in the central city of Homs, where activists say the army killed at least 24 people.

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan spoke yesterday about the violence in Syria and agreed that citizen demands for a transition to democracy must be met, the White House said. “The two leaders underscored the urgency of the situation, reiterated their deep concern about the Syrian government’s use of violence against civilians and their belief that the Syrian people’s legitimate demands for a transition to democracy should be met,” the White House said in a statement.

The White House had been expected explicitly to urge Assad to step down on Thursday. However, Turkish officials said that Erdogan had asked Obama not to do so during a telephone conversation on Thursday. Turkey, which the US and other countries view as particularly influential over Syria, is sceptical about the impact of calls for Assad to leave power.