US pulls ambassador out of Syria

AMMAN, Jordan�? The United States has pulled its ambassador out of Syria over worries of his "personal safety" after his cultivation of contacts with protesters led to attacks on his embassy and residence by backers of President Bashar al-Assad, the State Department said Monday.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Monday that Ambassador Robert Ford returned to Washington this weekend after "credible threats against his personal safety."

Toner couldn't say when Ford might return, saying it depended on a U.S. "assessment of Syrian regime-led incitement and the security situation on the ground."

"Articles, more inciting against Ford than usual, have appeared in state media recently," a diplomat who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue told Reuters.

1. Only on msnbc.com

   1. Battling for gay rights, in Allah's name
   2. Clinton: No one should doubt commitment to Iraq
   3. 'Operation Great Pumpkin' lights up Halloween
   4. 'I am happy': Libyans line up to see Gadhafi's body
   5. 'Occupy' protesters find allies among the wealthy
   6. Dating after diagnosis: Love in the time of chemotherapy
   7. Flooded Thailand races to rescue pets, loose crocs

Ford, a veteran diplomat, infuriated Syria's rulers by getting in touch with a seven-month-old grassroots protest movement demanding an end to 41 years of Assad family rule.

Ford was cheered by protesters when he went in July to the anti-Assad hotbed city of Hama, which was later stormed by tanks. He also visited a town that had witnessed regular protests in the southern province of Deraa, ignoring a new ban on Western diplomats traveling outside the Damascus area.

Along with a group of mostly Western ambassadors, Ford later paid condolences to the family of Ghayath Matar, a 25-year-old protest leader who had distributed flowers to give to soldiers but was arrested and died of apparent torture, activists say.

Story: Syrians rally for Assad, Libya recognizes opposition

Deterioration of ties
Washington, seeking to convince Assad to scale back an alliance with U.S. arch-foe Iran and backing for militant groups, acted to improve relations with Damascus after President Barack Obama took office in 2009. Obama sent Ford to Damascus in January after being appointed to the post temporarily to fill a diplomatic vacuum prevailing since Washington withdrew its ambassador in 2005.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved Ford's nomination, with Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., praising Ford for continuing to visit cities under siege and "speak truth to power."

Kerry said Ford has been steadfast "despite even being physically attacked and assaulted by the regime's goons."

But relations deteriorated anew after the uprising broke out and Assad ignored international calls to respond to protester demands that he dismantle the Syrian police state and allow political pluralism.

In an interview with Reuters last month, Ford said Assad was losing support among key constituents and risked plunging Syria into sectarian strife by intensifying a military crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.

Story: Syrian regime accused of targeting doctors

Time was running against Assad, he said at the time.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45013668/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

world news daily net world news daily obama world news daily obama birth certificate world news daily podcast world news daily telegraph