Pro-Assad Protesters Attack UAE, Morocco Embassies
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Protesters pelted the Moroccan embassy in Damascus with eggs and stones on Wednesday, Morocco's ambassador said as his country hosted an Arab League meeting aimed at ending bloody unrest in Syria, amid another attack on the UAE embassy in Damascus.
Morocco's ambassador, Mohammed Khassasi, told Agence France Presse that more than 100 demonstrators had attacked the building and stripped it of its flag.
Khassasi said "between 100 and 150 people protested in front of the embassy and attacked the chancellery with stones and eggs and acted irresponsibly by also attacking the Moroccan flag."
Morocco immediately condemned the attack.
"I condemn the attacks against the Moroccan embassy in Syria ... and what is happening inside and outside the Arab embassies," Moroccan Foreign Minister Taib Fassi Fihri said in Rabat.
The UAE embassy in Damascus also came under attack on Wednesday, an Emirates foreign ministry official said as the Gulf state took part in the Rabat meeting.
"The UAE condemns the attack against its embassy in Damascus and the Syrian government bares responsibility for the safety and protection of the chancery and the security of its staff," said Jumaa al-Junaibi, quoted by the official WAM news agency.
He reminded Syria's government that international conventions required it to "protect diplomatic missions" on its territory, accusing it of "negligence."
On Monday Syria's foreign minister, Walid Muallem, apologized for protester attacks on foreign embassies after the Arab League voted to suspend his country from the bloc.
"I, as foreign minister, apologies for this matter," Muallem told a news conference in the Syrian capital, adding that protecting the embassies was part of Syria's responsibilities.
On Saturday, hundreds of angry demonstrators attacked the embassies of France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
France recalled its ambassador to Syria on Wednesday while the U.S. envoy, abruptly withdrawn last month because of security threats, is supposed to return to Syria in "days to weeks," Washington has said.
