The United States says it is planning to increase pressure on Bashar al-Assad's government.<br /><br />That includes targeted sanctions against the president, his family and inner circle.<br /><br />The US has also ordered some of its embassy officials and their families to leave Syria because of what it calls the "uncertainty and volatility" in the country.<br /><br />Al Jazeera's Patty Culhane has more on Washington's response.
