Washington gearing up to pressure Damascus under the pretext of punishing it for alleged crackdown on protesters
The United States late Monday ordered embassy family members and some non-emergency personnel to leave Syria, claiming that there was "uncertainty and volatility in a crackdown on protesters there."
"The Department of State has ordered all eligible family members of US government employees as well as certain non-emergency personnel to depart Syria," the statement said. "Embassy operations will continue to the extent possible under the constraints of an evolving security situation," it added.
"US citizens in Syria are advised to depart while commercial transportation is readily available," it added. Any US citizens who remain in Syria should limit nonessential travel "given the uncertainty and volatility of the current situation," the statement said.
Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague called for an end Tuesday to the “violent repression” of protests in Syria, and said London was working with the UN and EU to send a “strong signal” to Damascus.
Diplomats also said on Monday that France, Germany and Portugal are also seeking a UN Security Council condemnation of the “killing of hundreds of demonstrators in Syria” and a call for an independent investigation.
However, Lebanese Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Shami asked Lebanon's permanent representative to the UN Nawwaf Salam to not agree on any possible UN Security Council action against Syria, reported the National News Agency.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has thrown his weight behind Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and accused the United States and its allies of fomenting unrest and protests in Syria, arguing that Western powers were seeking to topple the Syrian government.
"Terrorists are being infiltrated into Syria and producing violence and death -- and once again, the guilty one is the (Syrian) president, without anyone investigating anything," AFP quoted Chavez as saying on Monday. "They're starting to say: 'Let's see if we sanction the government, we're going to freeze their assets, we'll blockade them, throw bombs on them, in order to defend the people,” Chavez added.
Chavez's remarks came at a time Washington is gearing up to impose sanctions on Damascus under the pretext of punishing the state for alleged crackdown on protesters.
Syrian authorities blame armed groups and foreign elements for the violence and have repeatedly denied allegations that security forces are responsible for the death of protesters, saying they have been given clear instructions not to hurt civilians.
SANA quoted an official army source as saying that “in response to the calls for help from the citizens of Daraa and their appeal to the Armed Forces to intervene and put an end to the operations of killings, vandalism, and horrifying by extremist terrorist groups, some Syrian Army Units entered to the city to restore calm.”
The official source added that the Army Units, with the participation of security forces, are now chasing the said groups adding that the Army Units were able to arrest several members from the groups and confiscated huge quantities of weapons and ammunitions.
The sources pointed out that the confrontations caused the martyrdom of several martyrs and injuries from the army and security forces as well as the death and injury of some members of the extremist terrorist groups, according to SANA news agency.
