The United States has decided to call for Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to step down, according to American officials cited by Agence France Presse on Thursday. The officials said that the announcement could be just hours away.

The statement came as the White House reported that President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed, during a Thursday telephone call, on the need for a "transition to democracy" in Syria and the need for an "immediate halt of all bloodshed and violence against the Syrian people" by Syrian security forces.