The United States has condemned the Syrian government's use of violence, saying a security crackdown will not restore stability in the Arab country, as top US lawmakers introduced a Congressional resolution criticising human rights abuses there.
"We strongly condemn the Syrian government's use of violence. It has been made abundantly clear to the Syrian government that a security crackdown will not restore stability and will not stop the demands for change in Syria," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told mediapersons.
"The Syrian government continues to follow the lead of its Iranian ally in resorting to brute force and flagrant violations of human rights and suppressing peaceful protests. And history is not on the side of this kind of action," he said.
However, he said that it is up to the people of the region to decide who its leader should be. "But we believe that the government ought to listen to its people, refrain from violence and engage in political dialogue," Carney said.
Later, a bipartisan group of top Senators introduced a resolution calling the expansion of targeted US sanctions against Syrian officials responsible for human rights abuses, including against President Assad personally, and for the Obama Administration to work at the United Nations Security Council to hold Syrian human rights abusers accountable.
The resolution also expresses unambiguous support for the aspirations of the Syrian people.
"At precisely the moment when the Assad regime is sharply escalating its brutal crackdown in an attempt to crush peaceful protesters, this resolution sends a strong bipartisan message that the US together with our international partners needs to ratchet up our support for the Syrian people along with pressure against the Syrian government," said Senator Joe Lieberman.
"Assad's legitimacy has run out, and it is time for us to align ourselves unambiguously with the aspirations of the Syrian people for a peaceful, democratic future," he added.
"Every official in his regime must know that if they continue this barbaric crackdown against the Syrian people, they will be held accountable and face serious consequences," he said.
"Our resolution also urges President Obama to speak out personally and directly about the situation in Syria and against the actions of the Syrian government and to work with our international allies and partners at the United Nations Security Council to hold these Syrian human rights abusers accountable," Lieberman told mediapersons.
"This is a situation where there's an uprising in towns and cities all over Syria. So as a matter of practicality, that it's almost impossible to intervene in any way except in the ways that we are advocating. It's terrible. It's awful. We grieve. But the issue of doing more than what we are advocating I think would be extremely difficult to achieve," Senator John McCain said.
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