The Obama administration's top Middle East diplomat, Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman, has urged the Syrian opposition to remain "peaceful". And without revealing how he has reached the conclusion, he told a Senate committee that the days of President Bashar Al Assad are "numbered".
Surely there is no love lost between the US and Syria. Washington has for long slapped various forms of unilateral sanctions on Damascus — well before the Syrian protest movement began in March.
But there is now an Arab initiative on the table which the US seems to be ignoring. America and Turkey also seem to be pushing for regime change in the Arab country, regardless of what the regime and the Arab initiative offer.
The US position, according to Feltman's boss, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is in line with American interests. And the Arabs have of course to take care of their own interests.
But the Syrian leadership has to help itself by committing to the full and honest implementation of the Arab initiative, something it has obviously failed to do so far.
The Americans are pushing for international intervention in the Syrian issue and the Arabs are trying to stop that. But ultimately, the ball is in the Syrian regime's court.
