U.S. Wants 'Actions, Not Words' from Assad

The United States on Monday demanded "actions, not words" from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who said dialogue could lead to a new constitution and even end his Baath Party's monopoly on power.

"What's important now is action, not words," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said after Assad addressed the demands of pro-democracy protesters who have been violently repressed. "A speech is just words."

Speaking during the daily news briefing, Nuland said: "The fact that the Syrian people continue to protest every week indicates that ... for them, his words are not enough; that what they want is action."

Nuland also rejected Assad's contention that the protest movement in his country was the work of foreign instigators. "We're just not buying it," Nuland told reporters.

"We would also note in the speech he spends a lot of time blaming foreign instigators rather than appreciating that his own people are simply disgusted by the regime," she said.

Nuland described it as a "regime that supports itself through repression, corruption and fear."

Robert Ford, the U.S. ambassador to Damascus, was traveling Monday to northern Syria to assess the situation there following reports the Syrian army had cut off a key border village supplying people fleeing to Turkey, Nuland added.

Residents who managed to escape said the army closed its only bakery and burned surrounding forests.