U.S., EU Urge Syria to Allow for 'Peaceful' Transition

The United States and the European Union on Monday called on the Syrian government "to end violence immediately" in a joint statement issued after White House talks.

"We call on the Syrian government to end violence immediately, permit the immediate entry of human rights observers and international journalists, and allow for a peaceful and democratic transition," the statement said.

The Arab League voted Sunday to slap sweeping sanctions against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad over its crackdown on anti-regime protests -- the first time the bloc has enforced punitive measures of such magnitude on one of its own members.

In earlier measures over its bloody crackdown, Assad's regime has also been subjected to a raft of Western sanctions, led by the United States and European Union.

According to evidence gathered by the Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria, which interviewed 223 victims and witnesses, Syrian forces have murdered, raped and tortured demonstrators since the protests erupted in March.

A Britain-based rights group reported that security forces and militiamen loyal to Assad killed nine more civilians across the country on Monday.

Among the dead were six civilians killed in the flashpoint province of Homs, one in Hama and two cut down by powerful machineguns in Rankuss near Damascus, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The U.N. estimates that more than 3,500 people have been killed in the violence that has shaken Syria since mid-March.