Washington: The US has pledged a “strong international response” against Syria’s government if Damascus does not end a brutal crackdown against protesters. At least 21 people were killed in Homs, Hama and other cities, reports said, as Friday saw another day of violence. The US called the violence “deplorable” and said it would take “additional steps” if President Bashar al-Assad did not take steps to end the bloodshed.
More than 500 people are thought to have been killed since mid-March.
President Bashar al-Assad’s government has said it is taking decisive action against terrorists and criminals.
In Friday’s violence, human rights activists said at least 15 people died in the central city of Homs, with six others killed in Hama.
Ten members of the Syrian security forces were also killed, the government said, blaming “terrorists”.
Reacting to the violence, the US said it strongly condemned the Syrian government’s use of violence and mass arrests.
“We again salute the courage of Syrian protesters for insisting on their right to express themselves and we regret the loss of life on all sides,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
The US backed European Union plans to impose travel bans and asset freezes on at least 13 senior Syrian figures for their part in the violent crackdown, which has also seen at least 2,500 people arrested.
The sanctions will come into force later this month after being formally adopted by heads of government.
But the White House spokesman said Damascus still needed to make “significant changes” to its approach to the unrest or risk further, unspecified, action from by Washington.
The situation required “an end to the government’s killing of protesters and to the arrest and harassment campaigns of protesters and activists, coupled with a genuine political reform process responsive to the demands of the Syrian people,” Carney said.
Meanwhile, the UN said Syria had agreed to allow its humanitarian teams into the country.
Troops and tanks have withdrawn from the southern city of Deraa, where a human rights group says troops carried out a 10-day “massacre”.
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