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. According to a report from Washington, the statement from the White House says the United States has been inspired by the Syrian people to seek a peaceful transition to democracy. It emphasised that the brutality of the government's crackdown on dissidents, which President Obama says, he strongly condemns. For the sake of the Syrian people, it says, the time has come for President Assad to step aside. The United States has also ordered the freeze of all Syrian Government assets in the US and a ban on oil imports from Syria.