Syria faces increased international pressure

BEIRUT – International pressure mounted on Syria’s president Monday, with key European governments and the United Nations denouncing a deadly crackdown that has failed to dampen a popular uprising against the regime.

In the latest violence, security forces killed a student Monday during a protest at Damascus University in the capital, bringing the death toll to well over 170 after more than three week of unrest.

The United States, France, Germany and Britain demanded an immediate end to the bloodshed.

“Reform and repression are incompatible,” the French Foreign Ministry said.

The strong criticism marks a turning point because many major powers have so far held back on condemning President Bashar Assad outright, instead casting him as a reformer who has been constrained by members of his late father’s old guard. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said late last month that Assad is a “different leader” than Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi, and that many members of Congress who have visited the country “believe he’s a reformer.”

But with the mounting casualties, the criticism has grown.