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U.S. Closes Embassy, Pulls Diplomats From Syria as Violence Intensifies
The United States closed its embassy in Damascus on Monday citing security concerns, while Britain summoned its ambassador to London to discuss Syria’s increasingly bloody crackdown on anti-government demonstrators.
“This is an utterly unacceptable situation which demands a united international response,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague told his country’s parliament.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said President Bashar al-Assad has chosen a “dangerous path” in dealing with the 11-month-old uprising, adding that the United States remains “gravely concerned over the escalation of violence.”
On Saturday, Russia and China vetoed a U.N. security council resolution condemning Syria that had been strongly supported by Western countries and the Arab League. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton denounced the vetoes as a “travesty.”
The United States wants Assad to cede power and make way for a democratically elected government.
On Monday, the United States closed the embassy here, and U.S. Ambassador Robert S. Ford and all diplomats and American citizens associated with the embassy left the country. The State Department issued a travel warning recommending that all U.S. citizens in Syria “depart immediately.” It said the Polish Embassy now “serves as protecting power for U.S. interests” in Syria.
While couched in security concerns, the decision to close the embassy could signal a shift in policy toward Syria following the collapse of the U.N. diplomatic efforts. The State Department had long sought to keep the embassy open in order to better monitor the situation in Syria, and to preserve an open channel with the Syrian opposition.
Even though he is no longer in Syria, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Ford will continue “his work and engagement with the Syrian people,” who have been protesting and calling for reforms. Assad’s government has responded harshly, with new reports of shelling in the city of Homs and Zabadani on Monday.
In recent days, the Obama administration’s rhetoric has toughened toward both Syria and its few remaining allies. Nuland’s statement pointedly did not mention any remaining diplomatic channels for communication between the United States and Assad’s government. Still, the White House has continued to downplay the possibility of a Libya-style military campaign to aid Syria’s rebels.
President Obama, in an NBC interview broadcast on Sunday, said it was “very important for us to try to resolve this without recourse to outside military intervention.”
“I think that’s possible,” Obama said. “My sense is that you’re seeing more and more people inside of Syria recognizing that they need to turn a chapter . . . This is not going to be a matter of ‘if.’ It’s going to be a matter of ‘when.’ ”
As the revolt and the crackdown edged closer to the capital in recent weeks, U.S. officials voiced growing concern about the security of the relatively lightly protected embassy building. Diplomats negotiated with Syrian authorities to be permitted to bring in extra staff and take further measures to secure the embassy, but met with resistance.
Ford, who led U.S. criticism of the Syrian regime in the early months of the uprising, was called home from Damascus in October out of concern for his personal safety but returned to Syria in early December. His meetings with activists and vivid Facebook postings have drawn the Damascus government’s ire.
In Homs on Monday, a barrage of heavy artillery fired by the army hit the city, residents said. The artillery reportedly struck a field hospital in the neighborhood of Baba Amr, a center of opposition to Assad’s government.
Heavy artillery also shook houses near Zabadani, a town where opposition fighters negotiated a truce with security forces more than two weeks ago.
The onslaught has been going on for several days, according to residents, who said friends and relatives in Zabadani had not been allowed to leave. Soldiers did not allow outsiders to access the town.
“The deteriorating security situation that led to the suspension of our diplomatic operations makes clear once more the dangerous path Assad has chosen,” Nuland said. “It also underscores the urgent need for the international community to act without delay . . .before the regime’s escalating violence puts a political solution out of reach and further jeopardizes regional peace and security.”
Alice Fordham
Washington Post