I just stumbled across the answer: yes there is:
_Static_assert(1==2, "whoa");
...will cause the compilation to fail with a message of the form:
In ../sources/assert_test.h:194:1: error: static assertion failed: "whoa"
_Static_assert(1==2, "whoa");
On the other hand,
_Static_assert(1==1, "whoa");
... will compile without error.