Bahrain has decided to shut down its embassy in Damascus and to withdraw all diplomats and staff because of worsening security conditions there, the foreign ministry said on Thursday in a statement quoted by state news agency BNA.
The foreign ministry also called upon Bahraini nationals in Syria to be cautious and to leave the country immediately, BNA reported.
The move came one day after Saudi Arabia and Italy closed their missions, amid an escalating crackdown on protests against President Bashar al-Assad that has killed thousands.
Syria marked the first anniversary on Thursday of an increasingly bloody uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, with recent army gains unlikely to quell the revolt and no diplomatic solution in sight.
Official media announced government forces had cleared "armed terrorists" from the northwestern city of Idlib and said supporters of Assad would hold rallies across Syria.
But opponents of Assad's regime show no sign of backing down and there were reports of continuing clashes in areas around Idlib, as well as close to the central city of Homs, which has been pummeled by the army in recent weeks.
As the anniversary of the uprising approached, the Syrian army appeared to step up its offensive against rebel strongholds, regaining Homs and sending tanks into the southern town of Deraa, the cradle of the rebellion.
They also pounded Idlib with artillery in recent days before sending in troops to regain control of the city, which had been a bastion for the Free Syria Army -- a disparate collection of lightly armed militants led by deserters.
Meanwhile, a joint team of Syrian, U.N. and Organization of Islamic Cooperation
staff will begin visiting besieged Syrian towns this weekend to assess
the humanitarian situation, U.N. aid chief Valerie Amos said on
Thursday.
The mission will be led by the Syrian government and the team would
"gather information on the overall humanitarian situation and observe
first-hand the conditions in various towns and cities," Amos said in a
statement.
"I repeat my calls to the government of Syria to allow humanitarian
organizations unhindered access, so that they can help people in need,
in a neutral and impartial manner," she said.
Turkey said Thursday it was considering the establishment of a "buffer zone" along its border with Syria after more than 1,000 Syrians crossed into Turkish territory in the latest influx of refugees escaping attacks by security forces in their homeland.
Interior Minister Besir Atalay did not say how such a safe zone would operate and where it would be located, but his remarks reflected the escalating humanitarian crisis along the border, where at least 14,700 Syrians have crossed into Turkey since last summer.
Separately, the official IRNA news agency reported that an
Iranian aircraft carrying 40 tons of "medical aid" arrived in Syria
on Thursday.
Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said that arming the
opposition could lead to "a catastrophe even larger than the one that
exists today."
"The Syrian people are deeply divided, and if we give arms to a certain
faction of the Syrian opposition, we would make a civil war among Christians,
Alawites, Sunnis and Shiites," Juppe said on France-Culture radio .