Robert S. Ford, US Ambassador to Syria. Photo: wiki commons.

NY Times – The United States closed its embassy in Syria on Monday and withdrew all staff there in response to escalating mayhem in the country and what American officials called the Syrian government’s unbridled repression of an 11-month-old uprising that has become the bloodiest conflict in the Arab Spring revolts.

Clearly laying the blame on Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, the State Department said in a statement on its web site that the United States had “suspended operations of our Embassy in Damascus,” and that Ambassador Robert S. Ford “and all American personnel have now departed the country.” It said the closure reflected “serious concerns that our Embassy is not protected from armed attack.”

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