White House Live Blog

The White House said Wednesday it was "deeply concerned" over an upsurge in violence in Bahrain, condemning attacks  on police but also calling on security forces to show restraint.

"The United States continues to be deeply concerned about the situation in Bahrain, and we urge all parties to reject violence in all its forms," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement.

- Agence France Presse

The US has raised concerns with Yemen's president that members of the former government were disrupting the country's political transition, the White House said.

John Brennan, President Barack Obama's assistant for homeland security and counter-terrorism, called President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi to discussion the situation.

It came at end of a week that saw cabinet members loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh walk out of a cabinet meeting in what the opposition portrayed as an attempt to bring down the unity government.

The White House dismissed as "laughable" Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's promise to hold a referendum on a new constitution that would lead to multi-party elections.

"It makes a mockery of the Syrian revolution," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on Air Force One as US President Barack Obama headed to Wisconsin.

"Promises of reforms have been usually followed by increase in brutality and have never been delivered upon by this regime since the beginning of peaceful demonstrations in Syria," he said. "The Assad regime's days are numbered." [Reuters]

The White House said on Monday it supported a political solution that would stop the violence in Syria after Russia's Foreign Ministry said Syria agreed to Russian-brokered negotiations over the crisis.

Asked about Russia's initiative to hold talks in Moscow, White House spokesman Jay Carney said: "We don't have details at this point on that meeting. But in general we support efforts to reach a political solution that stops the violence in Syria.

"We're discussing with the Russians and other partners how best to use all the levers at the command of the international community and the United Nations to press the Syrian government to stop its appalling and ultimately ineffective and harmful repression," Carney said.

"It's important that the (U.N.) Security Council take action," he said. "We believe that the Security Council should not permit the Assad regime to assault the Syrian people while it rejects the Arab League's proposal for a political solution."

Carney called it "inevitable" that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would fall from power.

"As governments make decisions about where they stand on this issue and what further steps need to be taken with regards to the brutality of the Assad regime, it's important to calculate into your considerations the fact that he will go.

The regime has lost control of the country and will eventually fall," he said. [Reuters]