WASHINGTON.D.C. - U.S. President Brack Obama called on Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to step down.

In his statement issued on Thursday Obama strongly condemned attacks on Syrian civilians and “the arrests of opposition figures who have been denied justice and subjected to torture at the hands of the regime.”

“The future of Syria must be determined by its people, but President Bashar al-Assad is standing in their way. His calls for dialogue and reform have rung hollow while he is imprisoning, torturing, and slaughtering his own people.  

We have consistently said that President Assad must lead a democratic transition or get out of the way.  He has not led. For the sake of the Syrian people, the time has come for President Assad to step aside,” reads the statement available on the White House website.

Obama also announced his Administration’s “unprecedented sanctions to deepen the financial isolation of the Assad regime and further disrupt its ability to finance a campaign of violence against the Syrian people.”