Damascus declared Western ambassadors to Syria as “persona non grata”,
Syria’s foreign ministry reported on Tuesday.
The foreign
ministry announced in a statement that a number of ambassadors, mainly
the U.S., French, UK and Turkish ambassadors, are “persona non grata,
based on the principle of reciprocity.
SANA earlier reported that
the Syrian army foiled an attempt Sunday night to smuggle weapons from
Lebanon into Syria.
This as Saudi Arabia's foreign minister Saud
Al-Faisal said that Gulf Arab states had begun to lose hope that a
peace plan spearheaded by international envoy Kofi Annan held the
solution to more than a year of violence in Syria.
For his part,
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao
urged the international community to support U.N. envoy Kofi Annan's
plan on Syria, state television reported.
Meanwhile, Deputy Russian
Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Russia does not consider the
survival of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power as a precondition
for the settlement of the conflict in Syria
Deputy Foreign
Minister Faisal Mokdad and after his meeting with Head of Mission of
international observers, General Robert Mood Tuesday, expressed Syria’s
desire for the success of UN envoy Kofi Annan’s plan, to resolve the
crisis in his country, pointing out that Damascus will do everything in
its power to protect the Mission of Observers
For his part, Mood,
described the meeting with Mokdad as “professional and positive”.
Relatively,
the U.N and Syria signed a deal on Tuesday to allow the access for 9
U.N aid agencies, and 7 International NGO’s.
According to
reports, the UN will establish field presence in four Syrian cities.
This as the Syrian government pledged to expedite visas.
According to UN aid officials, good faith in Syrian
government "will be tested on this issue today, tomorrow and everyday".
Meanwhile
Syrian government forces backed by helicopters clashed with rebels in
several towns in the coastal province of Latakia, the Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights said.
"These are the heaviest clashes so
far in the area since the beginning of the revolution (in March 2011),"
Rami Abdelrahman, the head of the Observatory, told Reuters.
He
said at least five tanks and armoured personnel carriers were destroyed.
Rebels have taken over police stations in the city of Haffeh in the
countryside of Latakia, he added. He said "a lot of ambulances" were
seen arriving in the city of Latakia carrying wounded government
soldiers.
The Syrian Observatory has reported15 soldiers
killed in Latakia clashes so far.
LBCI/REUTERS