Later, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said

Assad needs to understand that his days are numbered, and should not live in his own fantasy world about staying in power. "The Syrian opposition is making steady gains. So he (Assad) needs to understand that his days are numbered and that the best way to save his country, if he truly cares about it, and his people, although his acts would belie that, is to allow a real discussion about a peaceful political transition," Nuland said. "I don't think there's any secret among the countries that have been working to increase the pressure on Assad that he's living in his own fantasy world about his staying power. But clearly, his own way of thinking about this needs to be changed if we stand any chance of him cooperating in a peaceful transition, which would obviously be the fastest way," she said. She said those close to Assad, those who've supported the regime in the past, should make their own decision of conscience to break with him, because he's not going to last. At present, she said, the United States is providing non-lethal assistance of all kinds, everything from communications equipment to medical supplies to training for the Syrian opposition to support for people inside Syria in liberated areas who are trying to now stand up local governments. "That will continue," she said. "We've always said with regard to Assad, with regard to anybody else with blood on their hands, that there needs to be accountability, that accountability and how it is meted out needs to be a decision that Syrians make in the context of the transition," Nuland said. The United States, she said, has been encouraging the opposition to unify around a plan for how the principles in Geneva could be implemented.