US accelerates efforts to make Assad step down

The United States is accelerating efforts to get Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, US State Department Spokesman Patrick Ventrell said. "The situation is grave, and we're witnessing the regime's continued assault on its own people," Ventrell said in response to a question during a press briefing at the State Department, adding "We are continuing and accelerating all the efforts we have had in place to get Assad to step aside as soon as possible." "We are not only, of course, continuing to work with like-minded nations on sanctions; we're working to provide our support to the opposition, we're working to provide millions of dollars of humanitarian support to help Syrians both inside Syria and those who have fled to the outside," he said. "So we have all of these elements of our strategy. They continue in full force, and we'll continue to work with all of our partners who – which include nearly a hundred countries and other partners who are all in concert working together so that we can see Assad step aside sooner, which really is the fundamental way to see less bloodshed, to see this stop as soon as possible," Ventrell added. Asked about the seriousness of the situation if Aleppo fell at this point and if Assad were to reassert his authority in the north, Ventrell said "we're continuing to witness his overall control of the country slip away, and so we think obviously the opposition is more organized and has taken major steps to not only organize and plan for the future, but to hold the territory that they already have, adding "we can't predict exactly how this is going to happen. We want the violence to stop and the transition to begin as soon as possible."