Reports from Syria appear to indicate that forces loyal to President Bashar Al-Asad are preparing to mount an offensive against rebels based in the coastal town of Banias. Farther south, in Dara’a, eyewitnesses report bodies remaining in the streets uncollected since being killed by Al-Asad’s troops. The sound of gunfire is still heard while the city is sealed by soldiers and lines of communication, water and electricity have been cut. With an estimated 120 killed over the weekend, rights groups peg the total loss of life in excess of 400 so far, exclusive of the most recent killings in Dara’a. The clear intent by Al-Asad to crush his detractors has prompted many to charge U.S. President Barack Obama with a double standard vis-à-vis American policy versus Mu’amar Al-Qaddafi in Libya. The White House has not called for Al-Asad to step down and critics say the threat to the Syrian population by its president is no less than was the threat to Libyans from Qaddafi that was cited by Obama as the motivating factor in the U.S. call for a regime change in Libya. Some say the direct threat to Egyptians when Obama called for Hosni Mubarak to step down was not as great as the current threat to Syrians. Others charge that the administration’s clear message to Al-Asad that the U.S. has no intention of intervening as it did in Libya in encouraging the Syrian leader to continue the campaign against his people.