Al-Assad is under increasing pressure from the West and from fellow Arab states to halt the clampdown. The United States has has stopped short of explicit calls for him to step down, but Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday that al-Assad "has lost the legitimacy to lead, and it is clear that Syria would be better off without him."
"We urge those countries still buying Syrian oil and gas, those countries still sending Assad weapons, those countries whose political and economic support give him comfort in his brutality, to get on the right side of history," Clinton told reporters in Washington.
Oil and gas make up about a quarter of the Syria's economy, according to the International Monetary Fund. In addition, Clinton said the United States and its allies are trying to help opposition groups "create a unified vision of what an inclusive participatory democratic system in Syria could look like."
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