Syrian ambassador was summoned by US administration after reports that embassy staff was engaged in spying on anti-Assad protests in the US. Imad Mustapha was summoned after reports that protesters at the Syrian embassy were filmed.

“The United States government takes very seriously reports of any foreign government actions attempting to intimidate individuals in the United States,” it was made clear by the state department in a statement Friday.

There are reports that the Syrian government sought “revenge” against the protesters’ family members in Syria for their actions in the US.

Chairman of the Syrian American Council, Loay Safi told on Saturday he was getting reports of family members of those protesting in the US being targeted back home. Syrian American Council works for civil rights.

“There are reports of intimidation and of retaliation. At this moment we are asking for investigation, but we are not quite certain,” Loay Safi said.

“There are enough reports that I think requires somebody to look into that.

“For instance, we had someone who is very active and calling for democracy in Syria and protesting in front of the embassy in Washington – his family member was killed back in Syria.”

The US action came in reciprocation of the Syria’s accusing US ambassador in Syria for provoking protests in Hama city of Syria. Syria has termed Ambassador’s action as interference in the country’s internal matters.

“The presence of the US ambassador in Hama without previous permission is obvious proof of a clear evidence of the United States’ involvement in current events in Syria,” Syria’s foreign ministry stated.

The US has said that the ambassador Mr. Ford was welcomed by the peaceful people who sought a political change. But it rejected Syrian criticism of its ambassador.

“Absolute rubbish,” Victoria Nuland of state department said.

“The reason for his visit was to stand in solidarity with the right of the Syrian people to demonstrate peacefully.”
She rejected that there was no prior information of Ford’s visit to Hama and said that the US embassy had informed the defense ministry and he passed through all the checkpoints along the way.

French ambassador, Eric Chevallier, was also in Hama to express support to the demonstrators. France has said its ambassador was present there to express the country’s concern for the Syrian people.

These developments on the diplomatic front came in the light of Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports quoting many defectors from Syrian forces as saying that they had orders to shoot on protesters.

HRW quoted eight soldiers and four members of the security agencies. The eight are said to have taken part in the government crackdown in Baniyas, Homs, Jisr al-Shughur, Daraa, Izraa, Aleppo and Damascus.

“All of the interviewed defectors told Human Rights Watch that their superiors had told them that they were fighting infiltrators [mundaseen], Salafists, and terrorists,” said a press statement Saturday.

Protests on in Hama city

Activists report that as large as 500 thousand-strength protest was organized in Hama city on Friday. This according to them is the largest protest of what is said to be the Syrian awakening against the Assad regime. This situation continues in Syria despite the crackdown as well as the ‘dialogue’ exercise by the president.

The protests which seem making the exit of the president almost imminent are on in many cities of the country. The opposition has reported death of 13 protesters across the cities. The toll counts five in the city of Homs, two in Midan and six in east of Damascus.

Even the mass arrests could not help stop the protesters in Hama city to come on roads. And after other cities which faced the crackdown now it is turn of the city of Hama which has become a historical city due to its massive protests. Over thousand people have already fled from the city in fear of military crackdown.

The protesters are demanding the end of the decades long rule of president Bashar al-Assad and the Baath Party.