(AFP) MOROCCO has recalled its ambassador from Damascus after its embassy there was attacked by pro-regime protesters as the Arab League told Syria to halt a “bloody repression”.
King Mohammed VI took the decision today “to protest against a system that fails to renew itself,” Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri said at the opening of a Moroccan MEdays think tank event.
Earlier today, the Arab world called for urgent action to protect Syrian civilians from an eight-month protest crackdown, giving President Bashar al-Assad three days to halt his “bloody repression”.
That came as a raid by army defectors on a military base highlighted the scale of the challenge to Assad at home, prompting the United States to warn that violence by the opposition is playing into his regime’s hands.
Despite Syrian promises to the contrary, the embassies of Morocco and the United Arab Emirates in Damascus were attacked by pro-Assad crowds today.
“The regime of Bashar al-Assad does not seem to listen, notably to outside efforts including those by the Arab League to settle the problem of violence,” the minister said.
Syria was suspended by the League at the weekend.
The MEdays, held in Tangiers annually, are attended by public figures from more than 180 countries, according to organisers.
