Assad's days are numbered, Rice says

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Though Syrian President Bashar Assad's days "are numbered," the U.N. Security Council is called to take action, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations said.

Ambassador Susan Rice said, after a briefing at the United Nations by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, that ongoing atrocities committed in Syria are a grave and urgent concern.

"Let there be no doubt: Assad's days in power are numbered," Rice said in a statement.

Pillay reiterated her position that atrocities by Assad's regime constitute crimes that warrant referral to the International Criminal Court.

She warned there were signs of an imminent massacre in the Syrian city of Homs, a center for unrest in the country. International action was needed, she stressed, before the country slides into civil war.

Pillay said credible reports received by her office suggest the death toll in Syria since March exceeds 5,000, not including deaths of military or security forces.

Syrian officials disputed Pillay's accounts. Assad, in a recent interview with ABC News, maintained the country was dealing with an insurgency.

Nevertheless, Pillay said Syrian authorities are emboldened by the inability of the international community to take a unified stance on the unrest.

Rice said its "past time" for the U.N. Security Council to take action against Damascus.

China and Russia, veto-wielding members of the Security Council, oppose formal action at the world body.