The White House said on Wednesday that President Barack Obama believes in a better-off Syria without Bashar Assad and that the United States will keep up the pressure on the Syrian president, Xinhua reported.
"I think we have made clear that we believe, the president believes that Syria would be better off without President Assad," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters at a regular news briefing.
He said that the international community is increasingly speaking with one voice on Syria "in unified condemnation of Assad 's brutality against his people."
"The most important thing that we can do right now is ensure that our actions back up our words," he added. "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."
In an effort to ratchet up pressure on Assad and his government, U.S. Department of Treasury on Wednesday imposed additional sanctions on Syria by targeting its largest commercial bank and largest mobile phone operator.
"We continue to call on the regime to immediately halt its campaign of violence and arrests, pull its security forces back, release the many thousands of detainees, and to respect and act upon the clear demands of the Syrian people for a peaceful and democratic transition," Carney said, vowing to "keep up the pressure" by working and coordinating with U.S. international partners.
Assad told visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Tuesday that his country "will not waver" in its pursuit of terrorist groups, which Syria blamed for the unrest starting in mid-March.