US President Barack Obama and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah on Saturday called for an immediate end to the Syrian government's crackdown on protests against President Bashar al-Assad, the White House said.
The two leaders spoke and "agreed that the Syrian regime's brutal campaign of violence against the Syrian people must end immediately, and to continue close consultations about the situation in the days ahead," the White House said in a statement.
The United States has stopped short of calling for Assad to step down from power, but it slapped additional sanctions on Syria earlier this week and urged countries to stop buying Syrian oil and gas. King Abdullah on Monday called for an end to the bloodshed in Syria and recalled his ambassador from Damascus.