The US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he was looking to increase international pressure on the Syrian President Bashar Assad, urging the embattled leader to step down.

The US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he was looking to increase international pressure on the Syrian President Bashar Assad, urging the embattled leader to step down.

"Unfortunately we're continuing to see unacceptable levels of violence inside that country," Obama said in Washington on Tuesday after meeting Jordan's King Abdullah.
The two leaders had held meeting at the White House discussing a range of regional issues including the situation in the region, the peace talks between the Zionist entity and Palestine and the situation in countries like Yemen and Syria, besides Iran.

"We will continue to consult very closely with Jordan to create the kind of international pressure and environment that encourages the current Syrian regime to step aside," he said.

"We talked about the importance of us continuing to consult closely together to encourage the Palestinians and the Israelis to come back to the table and negotiate in a serious fashion a peaceful way forward. And the Jordanians have taken great leadership on this issue, and we very much appreciate their direction on this issue," he said.

"We also talked about a number of regional issues, including Iraq and Iran, but uppermost on our minds right now is the issue of Syria," Obama added.