Obama 'to urge Assad step down'

US President Barack Obama is to call for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, White House sources say.

The call marks a significant ratcheting up of international pressure against Mr Assad after a months-long crackdown on anti-government protests.
UN investigators say the Syrian security forces' use of violence "may amount to crimes against humanity".
The investigators said the UN Security Council should refer the issue to the International Criminal Court.
US officials in Washington said Mr Obama would issue a written statement making his first explicit call for President Assad to step down over the violence, and announce tough new sanctions against his government.
The US has already tightened its sanctions against members of Syria's government but has stopped short of demanding Mr Assad step down.
'Systematic attacks' Meanwhile, UN investigators released a 22-page report saying that security forces, including snipers, have used deadly force against civilians in attempts to quell months of anti-government protests.
About 2,000 people are believed to have been killed in Syria since March.
The UN's investigators were not allowed in Syria. They interviewed victims and witnesses of the violence, some in Syria, and others in the region.
"The mission found a pattern of human rights violations that constitutes widespread or systematic attacks against the civilian population, which may amount to crimes against humanity," the UN investigators said.
The report, released in Geneva, urged the UN Security Council to "consider referring the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court".
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, is to brief the Security Council on the report later on Thursday in a special session.

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The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says activists continue to report deaths and "the repression goes on"

An emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council will be held on Monday following a request from all 24 members - including Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
The unrest in Syria began in March following the toppling of Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule have broken out in a succession of cities and the government has responded with force, sending in troops and tanks.
The assaults have escalated since the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan earlier in August.
Troop withdrawals President Assad has told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that military operations against protesters have "stopped", a UN spokesman said.
He was responding to a demand from Mr Ban during a phone call that "all military operations and mass arrests must cease immediately," the UN's Farhan Haq said in a statement.
But reports from inside Syria indicate the violence has continued, despite the highly-publicised troop withdrawal from three trouble-spots in the past couple of weeks - first the central city of Hama, then Deir al-Zour in the east, and now the Ramel district of Latakia on the western coast.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday was mostly quiet in the country except for shooting in Ramel.
Activists said at least 20 people were killed in various parts of the country on Wednesday, including the city of Homs.
An activist there told the Associated Press news agency that there had been heavy shooting all night until sunrise on Thursday.

taken from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14577333