WASHINGTON, March 27: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday that the United States would not launch a military action in Syria despite its brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, at least not without international consent. Asked on CBS television's “Face the Nation” programme if Washington was planning military intervention similar to that launched in Libya, Secretary Clinton said it had no plan to do so. “No, each of these situations is unique,” she said. But the top US diplomat did not completely rule out a military action against the Asad regime with an international consent.

“But that is not going to happen because I don't think it is yet clear what will occur, what will unfold,” Secretary Clinton said, noting differences between Syria's suppression of protests and the crackdown in Libya.

“What's been happening there the last few weeks is deeply concerning, but there's a difference between calling out aircraft and indiscriminately strafing and bombing your own cities, than police actions which frankly have exceeded the use of force that any of us would want to see,” she said.

Secretary Clinton noted that since the beginning of the current uprising in the Arab world, the US had been urging “all of these governments … to be responding to their people's needs — not to engage in violence, permit peaceful protests and begin a process of economic and political reform.” US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who also appeared on “Face the Nation, was even more careful than Mrs Clinton.

Asked if he thought President Bashar al-Assad should step down, he said: “These kinds of things are up to the Syrians.”

Mr Gates said that during a visit to the Middle East last week he told Arab leaders that they should learn a lesson from Egypt “where the military stood aside and allowed peaceful protests and allowed political events to take their course”.