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In Syria, U.S. ambassador drops diplomatic niceties

Middle East News

14-09-2011 | 08:57

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In Syria, U.S. ambassador drops diplomatic niceties

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U.S. ambassadors are usually the most measured of professionals, weighing each word in a delicate dialogue to advance America's interests with a minimum of public fuss.

But Robert Ford, the U.S. ambassador to Syria, is taking an undiplomatic tack -- flouting government travel restrictions, courting opposition figures and taking to Facebook to publicly denounce Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's brutal crackdown on unarmed protesters.

"An ambassador is a very visible symbol of American interest, and I'm a very visible symbol of the American people, so you can't just hide behind closed doors," Ford told Reuters in a telephone interview. "I do have a job to do and it is important that we be seen doing that job both by the Syrians and by the American people."

Activists say Syrian security forces attacked a gathering of mourners just hours after Ford expressed his condolences to the family of a rights activist killed last week.

Mustafa Osso of the Local Coordination Committees network says the attack occurred on Tuesday night, after Ford and several other ambassadors had left the gathering in the Damascus suburb of Daraya.

Also Wednesday, Syrian troops conducted raids in the northwestern province of Idlib and the central region of Homs, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.

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