Syrian dissidents say more must be done to stop killings

BEIRUT — Syrian dissidents applauded the U. S. decision Monday to close its embassy in Damascus in protest of a violent campaign against opponents. But they said more needs to be done to end the killings.

“We ask all Arab countries to follow the United States’ example and pull their ambassadors out of Syria,” said Abdel Rahman Akari, a member of the Revolutionary Council of Homs who has taken refuge in Lebanon.

After almost a year of the Syrian President Bashar Assad’s crackdown on a popular uprising, President Obama ordered U. S. diplomats, including Ambassador Robert Ford, to leave the country.

“We have been relentless in sending a message that it is time for Assad to go,” Obama said in an interview with NBC. “This is not going to be a matter of if; it’s going to be a matter of when.”

The decision to pull the diplomats comes after China and Russia vetoed a United Nations draft resolution last week that would have sanctioned the Syrian regime. Thousands of civilians have been killed by military forces loyal to Assad, who says the protesters are terrorists and thugs.

Britain also recalled its ambassador to Syria on Monday.

“This is a doomed regime as well as a murdering regime,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague said.

Akari said the actions of Russia and China show the ineffectiveness of asking the U. N. to prevent the slaughter. He reiterated the need for airstrikes against the Syrian military, as happened in Libya.

“No one can help us,” Akari said. “We just want ( foreign) intervention to allow a brief reprieve in order for us to pull out the deceased from the streets and evacuate the injured.”

The most serious violence Monday was reported in Homs, where Syrian forces used tanks and machine guns to shell a medical clinic and residential areas, killing 40 people, activists said.

Even as the U. S. steps up pressure on Assad to halt the violence and relinquish power, Obama said a negotiated solution was possible, without recourse to outside military intervention. Later, however, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the administration is taking “no options off the table.”