BEIRUT: The Arab League’s call for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down is one of a series of measures intended to escalate pressure on Damascus over the next three months, in the absence of alternative choices to hasten a peaceful end to the crisis.

Western and Arab officials are working for a “best case scenario” that sees Assad ceding power to an organized opposition without the country tumbling into protracted violence or civil war. Officials concede that the chances of success are remote given that the Assad regime shows little sign of imminent collapse.

Instead, it appears to be hunkering down for a long-drawn-out struggle, relying on the diplomatic support of Russia and China and its military and security services to crush the uprising.

The deadlock at the U.N. Security Council over issuing a resolution on Syria and the international reluctance to opt for a military solution leaves little choice in the medium-term, officials and diplomats say, but to plump for measures that steadily isolate Damascus and possibly erode the backing of Moscow and Beijing for the regime.

One Western official closely involved with Syria policy said that escalating pressure over the next three months was intended “to achieve the best possible outcome.”

“At some point he looks at the dwindling foreign currency reserves, the increased violence in the Damascus suburbs, international allies abandoning him and, we hope, he takes the decision just to take off,” the official said.

The Arab League proposal that Assad step down followed by the formation within two months of a national unity government is but one step to squeeze the regime. Others include the recent taboo-breaking proposal by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa, Qatar’s ruler, to send Arab troops into Syria to end the regime’s crackdown. A third is the continuation of the Arab League observer mission in Syria.

The mission has been heavily criticized for its inability to stop the violence and risks making the Arab League look impotent at a time of unusual assertiveness by the 22-member body.

More than 5,600 people have died according to the United Nations, several hundred of them since the observer mission began last month. Saudi Arabia announced that it was withdrawing its monitors from the mission, claiming that Syria had “not respected any of the clauses” of the original agreement.

On the other hand, the presence of the monitors has cast an international spotlight on some of the more troubled areas of confrontation in Syria, including Homs and more recently Zabadani.

One Western diplomat said the mission was valuable as an “annoyance” to the Assad regime and should be expanded in terms of monitors on the ground and logistical support.

The potential alternatives to a campaign of heightened diplomatic pressure either have little chance of succeeding, are insufficient, or risk escalating the crisis even more.

A week or two prior to the Arab League meeting Sunday, it was generally believed that the observer mission would be scrapped and the League would formally petition the U.N. Security Council to redouble its efforts to issue a resolution.

However, events on the ground may have overtaken the U.N. Security Council’s value as a means of helping resolve the crisis. Even if Russia and China can be persuaded to endorse a resolution demanding the Assad regime end its repression, it is unlikely that Damascus will pay much attention.

The U.S. and its allies, including Turkey, are hoping to persuade Russia to dampen its support for the Assad regime. They calculate that the more uncompromising Damascus appears to be in publicly rejecting each proposal from the Arab League and others, the more Moscow may be inclined to distance itself from the Syrian president, or at least use its influence to help reach a solution.

A continued reliance on diplomatic pressure will dissatisfy many elements within the opposition who are openly calling for international intervention to stop the bloodshed. But there is no appetite in the West nor in the Arab world (despite Qatar’s suggestion) to adopt a Libya-style model for Syria which some believe would only aggravate and complicate an already fraught situation.

Ultimately, diplomats and officials quietly concede that the chances of the Assad regime succumbing to heightened diplomatic pressure alone is unlikelyto work. If the situation remains the same in three months time, diplomats say there will be a fresh look at the possibility of assisting armed rebel groups, perhaps through the provision of arms, equipment and training.

Diplomatic sources say that the flow of weapons into Syria is higher than generally believed. Much of it comes from Iraq on a “tribe-to-tribe” basis, meaning the Sunni tribes of Al-Anbar province in Iraq supplying their brethren in eastern Syria, and from “Kurd-to-Kurd,” the Kurds of Iraq to the Kurds of northeast Syria. But the armaments are being stockpiled for later use, the sources say.