USA and other European Nations Called for the Resignation of Syrian President

President Barack Obama and the leaders of several major European countries have called for the resignation of the Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. It is the first explicit call from the US and its allies for President Assad to step down although Washington previously said Syria would be better off without him. The United States has also ordered the freeze of all Syrian Government assets in the US and a ban on oil imports from Syria. 

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told UN chief Ban Ki-moon that military operations against the protesters have stopped. The UN said in a statement that Mr. Assad was responding to a demand from Mr. Ban during a phone call that all military operations and mass arrests must cease immediately. Mr. Assad has come under mounting international pressure to end his violent crackdown on demonstrators.

 Syria is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, Turkey to the north and Israel to the southwest.