Countries Expel Syrian Diplomats, Syria Reacts

Local Editor

France, Britain, and Australia are expelling senior Syrian diplomats, officials said, increasing pressure on Damascus after a massacre in which the United Nations says families were shot at close range in their homes.

French President Francois Hollande told reporters Tuesday that Ambassador Lamia Shakkour will be notified "today or tomorrow" that she must leave.

Hollande said that after high-level discussions with British Prime Minister David Cameron and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, it had been decided to deploy "a certain number of ... pressure tactics," against Syria, including the expulsion of the ambassador.

British officials said Tuesday that the U.K. is expelling three Syrian diplomats among them Charge d'Affaires Ghassan Dalla — the country's top ranking diplomat in London. The officials demanded anonymity because they said they were not allowed to discuss the action ahead of a planned public statement from Foreign Secretary William Hague.

Hague confirmed that the United States, Canada, Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Australia were all taking action to expel the diplomats.

"We are increasing the pressure on the Assad regime and getting the message across that the international community is appalled by the murder of so many innocent people.

"Time will run out for the Annan plan and they (the Syrian regime) need to make a choice of what they are going to do."

In Canberra, Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr said Charge d'Affaires Jawdat Ali, the most senior Syrian diplomat in Australia, is to be expelled along with another diplomat from the Syrian Embassy. He said they were told to leave the country within 72 hours, in response to the massacre in Houla.
"This is the most effective way we've got of sending a message of revulsion of what has happened in Syria," Carr said.

In Vienna, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nikolaus Lutterotti said the Syrian ambassador is being summoned to the ministry where officials will deliver a very hard protest about the massacre.

When asked if the expulsions were EU-wide, Lutterotti said this had not yet been decided. He said the ambassador to Austria would not be expelled as he holds an additional function as the representative to the UN organizations in Vienna.

Hollande said Tuesday that Paris will host a meeting in early July of the so-called Friends of Syria seeking a diplomatic solution to the conflict. The ambassador's expulsion came amid increasing diplomatic efforts to end the bloodshed in Syria and put pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Many Syrian opposition figures are based in France, Syria's onetime colonial ruler.

The Syrian ambassador to Britain left the country in March. The United States and Britain have closed their embassies in Syria.

Turkey and Japan also followed the anti-Syria move and expelled Syrian diplomats over Houla tragedy on Wednesday.

In the meantime, the Syrian government has expelled the Dutch charge d'affaires Janet Alberda as the diplomatic war between Damascus and the West heats up.

Syrian Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday that it has given Alberda three days to leave the country

The diplomatic action came as UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.

According to Syrian state television, President Assad told Annan that terrorists had stepped up their operations across Syria, including killing and kidnapping.
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