Obama on Assad: ‘It is time for that regime to move on’

President Barack Obama vowed Friday to "look for every tool available" to stop Syria's deadly crackdown on opposition to President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

"It is important that we not be bystanders during these extraordinary events," he said in the Oval Office as he met with Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt of Denmark.

Obama told reporters that he saw growing "international unity" on the need to keep pressure on Damascus and vowed to "look for every tool available to prevent the slaughter of innocents in Syria."

The United States has thus far publicly balked at calls to arm the Syrian opposition, but has left the door open to doing so in the future. The White House has said it is looking for ways to get humanitarian aid to Syrian civilians.

Obama's comments came as diplomats from 70 nations huddled in Tunisia to map a strategy for ending the violence.

"All of us who have been seeing the terrible pictures coming out of Syria and Homs recently recognize it is absolutely imperative for the international community to rally and send a clear message to President Assad that it is time for a transition," Obama said. "It is time for that regime to move on and it is time to stop the killing of Syrian citizens by their own government."

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