Angry mobs stormed the American and French embassies in Syria yesterday, after the two Western envoys visited the city of Hama, a flashpoint for protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The Foreign Ministry in Paris said three French staff were wounded in the embassy attack, while a US official said “no staff were injured”.
Guards at the French embassy had to fire three warning shots, the foreign ministry said.
As Syrian security forces looked on, Assad supporters smashed their way into the compound with a battering ram, broke windows and destroyed the ambassador’s car, according to a spokesman in Paris.
An AFP photographer at the scene said several windows in the French embassy were broken and Syrian flags were raised.
“A car belonging to an embassy staffer was damaged and a picture of the Syrian President was stuck on it,” he said.
The US embassy official said: “Today there was an attack by a mob on the US embassy,” adding the crowd caused some damage to the mission.
A US official said “no staff were injured” at the American mission.
The US later summoned Syria’s charge d’affaires, accusing Damascus of failing to meet its international obligations after the angry mobs besieged the US and French embassies.
State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland described those storming the US embassy – for the second time in three days – as “thugs” and said they had been “chased off” by US Marines.
“The charge will be called here. (Syria) has not lived up to its international obligations,” Ms Nuland said, explaining that the Syrian ambassador was on vacation or he would have been summoned.
US officials accuse President Bashar al-Assad’s regime of orchestrating the embassy protests for propaganda purposes and to punish the French and American ambassadors for visiting the flashpoint city of Hama last week.
US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford complained to the Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on Sunday about the lack of protection at the embassy after the first egg- and food-throwing protests kicked off on Friday.
Human rights groups say that President Assad’s security forces have killed more than 1,300 civilians and made at least 12,000 arrests since protests against Mr Assad’s regime erupted in March.
Yesterday’s embassy attacks come four days after US Ambassador Robert Ford and his French counterpart Eric Chevallier visited the central city of Hama, sparking outrage in the capital.
Their visits took place amid fears of a bloody crackdown after Friday prayers the next day by Mr Assad’s forces, with tanks encircling the city.
On Sunday, a senior US official had accused Damascus of orchestrating the protests over Ford’s trip to Hama, which the authorities slammed as a “flagrant interference” in Syria’s “domestic affairs”.