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Violence continues in Syria after armed government supporters attacked a US envoy on Thursday. US Ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, was in Damascus meeting with opposition leader Hassan Abdul-Azim when it all went down.

"A convoy carrying the US ambassador through Damascus has been pelted by stones by pro-government demonstrators. Washington has condemned the attack, describing it as intimidation."

According to the Associated Press, both Abdul-Azim and Ford were trapped inside Abdul-Azim’s office for three hours while hundreds of protesters tried to break in. They eventually escaped unharmed.

This attack on Ford comes only days after government supporters threw rocks and eggs at French Ambassador to Syria Éric Chevallier. He was also unharmed.

While US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called the attack on the US ambassador “wholly unjustified,” pro-government Syrians accuse Ford, and other ambassadors of being provocateurs. The Telegraph’s Damien McElroy reports,

“...Damascus accused ambassadors from a handful of a countries - including the US, Britain and France - of orchestrating the opposition’s rise. Robert Ford, the US ambassador, has courted the regime's anger by travelling to villages under attack and attending meetings of the opposition. Loyalists accused Mr Ford, a veteran US arabist, of being a CIA agent intent on undermining the regime.”

Some say the attack on Thursday was set in motion months ago. The BBC News reports,

“Mr Ford has angered Damascus in the past, notably by visiting the central city of Hama with his French counterpart in July.
It led to both the French and US embassies coming under attack from supporters of the Assad regime.”

Thousands have been killed since the protests started in March. The United Nations’ Security Council is currently drafting a resolution to condemn the escalating violence and warn of future sanctions.

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