U.S. Edges towards Call for Assad's Departure

The United States Wednesday again stopped short of explicitly calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to leave power, but said it would help his people achieve "dignity and freedom."

Washington further stiffened its stance, after a crackdown on protesters which has killed 2,000 people, by unveiling new sanctions on the state-owned Commercial Bank of Syria, the country's largest commercial bank.

Steadily escalating U.S. rhetoric against Assad, including a warning that he is now a source of regional instability, has fueled expectations that the Obama administration will soon formally call for him to go.

But the White House Wednesday stuck with a rhetorical formulation towards Syria adopted last week, saying the country would be a "better place" without Assad and that he had lost legitimacy.

"The most important thing that we can do right now is ensure that our actions back up our words," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

"A democratic transition would be better for Syria, the region and the world, and we intend to help the Syrian people achieve the dignity and freedom they have demanded and for which too many have died.

"We will keep up that pressure. We will work and coordinate with our international partners."

Carney also said that the rising international isolation of Syria, which has seen key Arab states distance themselves from Assad, was not an "accident" but the product of U.S. diplomacy.

"We are working with our international partners to ensure that pressure continues to be placed and is ramped up on President Assad. And we'll continue to do that," he said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Syrian security forces shot dead 16 people in the protest hub of Homs while withdrawing from the flashpoint city of Hama after a 10-day operation.

Explaining the new sanctions, the U.S. Treasury said it was "taking aim at the financial infrastructure that is helping provide support to Assad and his regime's illicit activities."

Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen charged that the Commercial Bank of Syria was "an agent for designated Syrian and North Korean proliferators."

Also on Wednesday, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, expressed doubt that the Security Council would agree on a resolution threatening sanctions against Assad for his deadly crackdown on opposition protests.

A top U.N. official is to brief the council on the intensifying crackdown in Syria, one week after the 15-member body condemned the government violence.

Western nations will use the meeting to test reaction to possible stronger U.N. steps against Assad, diplomats from various countries said.

"From the United States' point of view we are going to continue and intensify our pressure both through our national actions, in additional sanctions, as well as coordinated efforts with other partners here in New York and around the world," Rice told reporters.

"In the view of the United States, he has lost his legitimacy to rule and Syria would be a better place without him," the ambassador added.

"We are looking to the future and looking to lend support to the people of Syria who have the same aspirations for freedom and democracy that we have seen in so many other parts of the world."

The Security Council passed a statement last week condemning the violence and calling for Wednesday's report on events in the country. Russia and China have led opposition to a formal U.N. resolution, however, with the support of Brazil, India and South Africa.

With the same countries still angry over NATO air strikes in Libya, western nations say it will be difficult to win the required majority for a sanctions resolution against Syria.

"I am loath to predict how exactly the council will respond in the future," Rice said.

Asked whether the council could refer Assad to the International Criminal Court, as it has referred Libya's Moammar Gadhafi, Rice said she doubted it would get the required support.

But she added: "From the United States point of view, and that of others, to the extent that we have evidence of crimes we would share that quite readily with any in a position to investigate."

"I think members have been moved by what they have seen of late and by the intensifying and horrific violence that we have seen against civilians. But we have also been frustrated quite candidly that it has taken as long as it has for the council to speak with one voice," she said.

"It is past time for all council members to put the interests of the Syrian people rather than particular bilateral issues or interests at the forefront of their actions," she added.