Qatar urges Assad to take "brave decision" to step down

MARRAKECH, Morocco (Reuters) - Qatar urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday to accept that rebels seeking his overthrow would eventually defeat him and called on him to step down to avoid further bloodshed.

"Please. What happened is enough, you should take the brave decision to stop this bloodshed, this destruction and withdraw and allow the Syrian people to form a government and state that they believe is appropriate," said Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, Qatar's prime minister and foreign minister.

"The result is clear, but how much more blood would the Syrians have to pay to achieve their goal," he told a news conference after a meeting of the Friends of Syria in Morocco. "I hope that the Syrian leadership acknowledges the truth. The truth is the truth and the people will win."

(Reporting by Samia Nakhoul; Editing by Janet Lawrence)