Syria will be better off without Assad: White House

Washington, Aug 11: The US on Tuesday said Syria would be better off without President Bashar al-Assad as he has lost legitimacy to rule, even as it did not directly ask him to step down.

"I think we have made clear that we believe, the (US) President believes, that Syria will be better off without President Assad. The international community is increasingly speaking with one voice on Syria, in unified condemnation of Assad's brutality against his people," the White House Press Secretary, Jim Carney, told reporters at his daily news conference.

"Through his own actions, President Assad is ensuring that he and his regime will be left in the past, and that the courageous Syrian people who have demonstrated peacefully in the streets will determine its future," he said.

"We have said that Syria will be a better place without Assad, and that he has lost legitimacy. The most important thing that we can do right now is ensure that our actions back up our words. 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," Carney said.

However, he did not directly demand that Assad should leave.

"I will simply point out that we've been very clear about our position on the actions that President Assad has taken against his own people, the fact that we believe Syria would be better off without him," he noted.

PTI