The latest report from the AP desk in Beirut says that the U.S. has closed its embassy in Syria and Britain recalled its ambassador to Damascus in a new Western push to get Syrian President Bashar Assad to leave power and halt the murderous civil war in Syria.

Contrary to President Obama's comments in his State of the Union address, the AP reports that the U.S. "diplomatic effort was stymied at the U.N. by vetoes from Russia and China," but, the recent moves by the U.S. and Britain (to evacuate the Syrian Embassy) were a clear message that Western powers see no point in engaging with Assad and now will seek to bolster Syria’s opposition.

”This is a doomed regime as well as a murdering regime,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague told lawmakers as he recalled his country’s ambassador from Syria on Monday. ”There is no way it can recover its credibility internationally.”

President Barack Obama said the Syrian leader’s departure is only a matter of time. ”We have been relentless in sending a message that it is time for Assad to go,” Obama said during an interview with NBC. ”This is not going to be a matter of ‘if’, it’s going to be a matter of ‘when’.”

With "no options off the table" apparently, the U.S. approach to direct military intervention in Syria is now virtually the same as that which was stated toward Syria's close ally, Iran.

The AP said that as part of what was clearly a concerted Western effort, the Italian Foreign Ministry said it had also summoned Syria’s ambassador in Rome to express ”the strongest condemnation … over the unacceptable acts of violence perpetrated by the regime of Damascus against the civilian population.”

More than 5,400 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising began last March, the U.N. said early last month. Hundreds more are believe to have been killed since then, but the U.N. says the chaos in the country has made it impossible to confirm these assessments.

In a signal that the window for diplomatic efforts may at some point close, White House spokesman Jay Carney said: ”We need to act to allow a peaceful political transition to go forward before the regime’s escalating violence puts a political solution out of reach.”

How quickly that 'window' might close is anybody's guess. The clock is ticking.