Assad claimed the country's “crisis” is drawing to a close even as forces unleashed tank shells on opponents Wednesday and US sanctions took aim at the Syrian leader and his senior aides for their brutal crackdowns. The messages from Damascus and Washington highlight a sharp divide: Western governments trying to boost pressure on Syria's regime, but Assad displaying confidence he can ride it out. Assad received a further boost when a call for nationwide strikes fell flat and longtime ally Russia vowed to stand against any UN resolutions that would sanction Syria. Syria has banned foreign journalists and prevented coverage of the conflict, making it nearly impossible to independently verify accounts coming out of the country or gauge the strength of the unprecedented protest movement in one of the most authoritarian regimes in the Middle East. But as the regime tightens its lockdown and broadens its campaign of intimidation, the regime could eventually frighten the population enough to eventually keep them off the streets – a tactic used by Syria's close partner Iran after unprecedented post-election chaos two years ago. On Wednesday, witnesses said the Syrian army shelled the western border town of Talkalakh with tanks for the fourth consecutive day. Syrians fleeing to Lebanon in recent days have described horrific scenes of execution-style slayings and bodies in the streets in Talkalakh. Activists say at least 27 people have been killed there since last week. “They are bombing us with tanks, it's been going on for days,” a resident told The Associated Press by phone from just outside the town of the town of some 70,000 people, just hours after fleeing. “Security forces are making random arrests, there isn't one security apparatus that they have not sent to the town,” he said on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. More than 5,000 people have crossed from Talkalakh across a shallow river into Wadi Khaled on the Lebanese side of the border in recent weeks. In Washington, officials said the Treasury Department planned sanctions on Assad and six members of his inner circle. It would mark the first time that sanctions would hold Assad personally accountable for actions of his security forces. In Berlin, Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle also pushed for a second round of European Union sanctions that would target Assad. The Swiss government, meanwhile, passed a measure restricting arms sales to Syria and freezing the assets and banning the travel to Switzerland of 13 senior Syrian officials. The arms embargo is largely theoretical because Switzerland hasn't exported weapons to Syria in over a decade, but any Swiss banks holding assets of the 13 officials will have to declare them immediately to the government. “The recent events in Syria we believe prove that the country cannot go back to the status quo ante,” said White House press secretary Jay Carney. But the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, said Assad must be given a chance to fulfill his reform promises and warned against foreign interference in the country.
