The US ambassador to Damascus leaves Syria due to "credible threats against his personal safety", while Syria quickly pulls its ambassador in Washington, reportedly for consultations, reports Bassel Oudat in Damascus The US embassy in Damascus suddenly announced at the beginning of last week that the US ambassador to Damascus, Robert Ford, returned to Washington for an open vacation since his "personal safety" is no longer guaranteed in Syria under the current conditions, after "continued incitement against him that is constantly broadcast by local media under the supervision of the regime". The US State Department confirmed the news and officially announced that the ambassador had left Syria. State Department spokesperson Mark Toner said at the beginning of last week that Ford was recalled to Washington in response to "credible threats against his personal safety", and without specifying when Ford would return to his post in Damascus. Toner said that would depend on an "assessment of Syrian regime-led incitement and the security situation on the ground". Toner also took the opportunity to call on the Syrian government "to immediately halt its subversive and false incitement campaign against Ambassador Ford". Informed sources said that Ford had briefed the Syrian Foreign Ministry about his departure and discussed with officials there his personal safety one day before he left. On the same day, in a parallel move, the Syrian embassy in Washington announced that Syria has recalled Ambassador Emad Mustafa for consultations in Damascus, without revealing the issues that would be discussed. Mustafa left the US on the same day. Two days later, US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said that Washington "did not recall its ambassador to Damascus" as incorrectly reported in the media, but instead asked him to return to Washington "for consultations". Nuland added: "First and foremost, we want to consult and discuss with [Ford] his view of conditions in Syria. The situation there is very tense and we want to give him a break. I reiterate once again that he was asked to come home for consultations; he was not recalled." In July, Ford visited the city of Hama before an army raid and met with several opposition figures there, visiting several hospitals in the city and seeing firsthand wounded civilians and listened to eyewitness accounts of the families of those who were killed by Syrian security forces. Ford's visit delayed an army and security forces invasion of the city by two weeks, although his visit was a direct message to Syrian authorities not to raid the city that was the scene of a massacre in 1982 between security forces and radical Islamic factions that resulted in the death of nearly 30,000 civilians, according to some estimates. Ford also shared his opinions about events in Syria on online social networks, and accused the regime of cracking down on peaceful demonstrators. He also paid his condolences to the family of a young political activist in rural Damascus, and has often told foreign media that Syrian demonstrators are peaceful and that security forces are the ones doing the killing. The regime viewed Ford's actions as interference in the country's affairs and accused him of inciting protests. The Syrian Foreign Ministry decided to limit his movements, along with other Western ambassadors, within a geographical radius of 25 kilometres from his office and residence in central Damascus. A few days after Ford returned from Hama, regime loyalists threw rocks and sticks at the US embassy and ambassador's residency in Damascus, and attempted to raid the embassy and damaged the front of the building, breaking the windows. The Syrian flag was raised atop the building, but the attackers were unable to enter the heavily fortified embassy. Washington condemned the attack and blamed the regime for not providing the necessary protection for the embassy and demanded compensation for all the damages, which Syria agreed to. In early September, regime loyalists threw rocks at Ford as he left a church in one of the old districts in Damascus, and in mid-September he and other embassy staff were attacked with rocks and tomatoes, and his car beaten with sticks, during a visit to the office of opposition figure Hassan Abdel-Azim, the head of the Coordination Committee of Forces for Democratic Change. In a third incident, he was attacked with eggs and tomatoes close to Al-Hassan Mosque in Al-Maydan district in Damascus. After pulling its ambassador to Damascus, Washington announced that it would work with the EU to impose more sanctions against members of the Syrian regime. "We will cooperate in imposing more sanctions against those who violate human rights in Syria and officials in the Syrian government," declared David Cohen, undersecretary of the US Treasury in charge of fighting terrorism funding. The sanctions follow many economic measures taken by the US and Europe against Syrian officials. Damascus has repeatedly accused foreign parties, led by the US, of inciting upheaval in Syria and criticised the pressure and sanctions by the US, claiming that they are the result of its support for resistance in the region. In view of escalating threats, the US has asked the diplomats and staff at its embassy in Damascus to leave the country. Sources at the US embassy in Damascus told Al-Ahram Weekly that after the ambassador was recalled for consultations, and other diplomats and staff were recalled earlier this year, the US mission in Syria is down to one third of its full capacity, which has affected operations at the embassy and required the scaling back of work in some sections or a temporary halt. Syria did not take a stand stronger than Ford or his country, although the US administration and president insisted that Bashar Al-Assad must step down. Government media accuses the US of funding saboteurs and terrorists in Syria and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Muallim explained that Damascus did not take any steps against Ford, although he is accused of incitement and interfering in the internal affairs of the country. "We are a country that is 7,000 years old, so our heart is big and patience even bigger; we a country that is confident in itself and its sons. Ford was trying to be a hero in his country, not here," Al-Muallim said. The Syrian opposition said that Damascus tried hard to convince Washington to appoint an ambassador, soliciting the help of many mediators for this purpose. It sent cordial and pleading letters to the US to send back an ambassador to Damascus after the US ambassador was recalled after the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Al-Hariri in 2005. That is why some say it would not take any action that upsets the US, and that its reactions are nothing more than PR gambits. The state-owned media in Syria described Ford's departure as "a declaration of the failure of the US in carrying out the planned plots that he was in charge of." The newspaper added: "No one within the regime revolted against it from within its ranks; not a single junior or senior officer of influence; none of them sold themselves to the Americans as Ford had planned." It went on: "The departure of the US ambassador from Damascus is a precursor for an outbreak of bombings, terrorism and assassinations in Syria soon." Coinciding with the ambassador's return, Senator John McCain stated: "Now, after military operations ended in Libya, the focus will return once again to what practical military options are available to protect civilians in Syria." Jeffrey Feltman, assistant secretary of state for Middle East and North Africa affairs, said: "President Al-Assad must understand that he will pay for his actions against the people of Syria." Nuland said that hopefully Ford would return to Damascus by Thanksgiving, on 24 November. "Ford has already bought a turkey for Thanksgiving and hopes to eat it with the staff at the embassy during the holiday." She added that once he returns, "the Syrian government must guarantee his safety and stay committed to the Vienna Agreement." There were many interpretations of the US move; most importantly that Washington is genuinely concerned about violent action against its ambassador, especially after media incitement against him was stepped up. Others viewed the ambassador's return to Washington as an angry message from Washington to Damascus over the latter's crackdown against protesters, especially that human rights reports are citing crimes against humanity being committed by the regime. On the other hand, others believe that the move is a signal that Washington's patience with the Syrian regime has run out and there is no point in continuing to cooperate with it politically. Others went as far as viewing it as paving the way for military action against Syria, or that a civil war is about to erupt after the peaceful revolution reached a dead end. "There is too much focus on the US ambassador recall, and it was over-reported in the media beyond its actual significance," Ragaa Al-Nasser, a member of Syria's opposition, told the Weekly. "[The Syrian regime] has made many mistakes with foreign ambassadors, as it has faltered in its foreign policy."
