The Obama administration says that Syrian President Bashar Assad has forfeited his right to lead Syria, and grisly murders in the town of Houla over the weekend reinforce that argument.
But despite mounting pressure, Assad isn’t budging. The U.S is now trying to enlist Russia to use its influence with the Syrian leader to follow the so-called Yemen model and move out of the way.
As protests mounted in Yemen last year, the U.S., Saudi Arabia and others with influence persuaded President Ali Abdullah Saleh to hand power to his vice president in exchange for immunity. It wasn’t easy, as Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough recalled Wednesday in a speech at the U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha.
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