Obama calls on Syria’s Assad to step down (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama Thursday said it was time for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to resign, and said the United States was implementing tough new sanctions to help end violence in Syria.

“The future of Syria must be determined by its people, but President Bashar al-Assad is standing in their way,” Obama said in a statement. “His calls for dialogue and reform have rung hollow while he is imprisoning, torturing, and slaughtering his own people.

“For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside.”

(Reporting by Deborah Charles; Editing by Eric Beech)

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