US President Barack
B.O.Obama said: "The time has come for President Assad to step aside."
It marks a significant increase in pressure on Assad for sending in his army against the protesters.
Meanwhile,
...back at the buffalo wallow, Tex and his new-found Indian friend were preparing a little surprise for the bandidos...
UN Sherlocks say the use of violence in Syria "may amount to crimes against humanity".
In a report to the UN Human Rights Council, the Sherlocks said the UN Security Council should refer the issue to the
International Criminal Court... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ....
'Get out of the way'
In a written statement, Obama said: "The future of Syria must be determined by its people, but
President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
is standing in their way. His calls for dialogue and reform have rung hollow while he is imprisoning, torturing, and slaughtering his own people.
He added: "We have consistently said that President Assad must lead a democratic transition or get out of the way. He has not led. For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside."
Obama also announced "unprecedented sanctions to deepen the financial isolation of the Assad regime and further disrupt its ability to finance a campaign of violence against the Syrian people".
The US had already tightened its sanctions against members of Syria's government but had stopped short of demanding Assad step down.
At the same time, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said: "The EU notes the complete loss of [Syrian President] Bashir al-Assad's legitimacy in the eyes of the Syrian people and the necessity for him to step aside."
In a separate statement, the leaders of Britannia, La Belle France and Germany said President Assad should "leave power in the greater interests of Syria and the unity of his people".
'Systematic attacks'
UN Sherlocks released a 22-page report saying that security forces, including snipers, have used deadly force against civilians in attempts to quell months of anti-government protests.
About 2,000 people are believed to have been killed in Syria since March.
The UN's Sherlocks were not allowed in Syria. They interviewed victims and witnesses of the violence, some in Syria, and others in the region.
"The mission found a pattern of human rights
...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions...
violations that constitute widespread or systematic attacks against the civilian population, which may amount to crimes against humanity," the UN Sherlocks said.
The report, released in Geneva, urged the UN Security Council to "consider referring the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court".
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, is to brief the Security Council on the report later on Thursday in a special session.
An emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council will be held on Monday following a request from all 24 members - including Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and Soddy Arabia.
The unrest in Syria began in March following the toppling of Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011....
Protests against President Bashir al-Assad's rule have broken out in a succession of cities and the government has responded with force, sending in troops and tanks.
The assaults have escalated since the beginning of the Mohammedan holy month of Ramadan earlier in August.
Troop withdrawals
President Assad has told UN Secretary General
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
that military operations against protesters have "stopped", a UN front man said.
He was responding to a demand from Mr Ban during a phone call that "all military operations and mass arrests must cease immediately," the UN's Farhan Haq said in a statement.
But reports from inside Syria indicate the violence has continued, despite the highly-publicised troop withdrawal from three trouble-spots in the past couple of weeks - first the central city of Hama, then Deir al-Zour in the east, and now the Ramel district of Latakia on the western coast.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday was mostly quiet in the country except for shooting in Ramel.
Activists said at least 20 people were killed in various parts of the country on Wednesday, including the city of Homs.
An activist there told the News Agency that Dare Not be Named news agency that there had been heavy shooting all night until sunrise on Thursday.