France recalls envoy as Syria military targeted

FRANCE recalled its ambassador to Damascus as Syrian President Bashar Assad came under increasing pressure from home and abroad, with army defectors killing at least eight soldiers in a daring attack on the military.

French Ambassador Eric Chevallier was ordered home in the wake of attacks against diplomatic missions and increasing violence stemming from Syria’s 8-month-old uprising.

Pro-regime demonstrators have stormed the diplomatic offices of France, the US and other countries critical of the Syrian government. Syrian forces fired tear gas yesterday to disperse demonstrators outside the Qatari and United Arab Emirates embassies in Damascus.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said “the vise is tightening” around the regime.

“I’m convinced the Syrian people will keep up their fight, and France will continue to do everything possible to help,” he told the lower house of parliament.

The move comes as the Arab League met in Morocco, where the 22-member group was expected to formally suspend Damascus over its bloody crackdown.

France, Syria’s former colonial ruler, has been increasingly critical of Assad’s regime in recent weeks, urging him to step down and meeting with opposition figures. French government spokeswoman Valerie Pecresse said Paris is working with the Syrian opposition “to try to develop a political alternative” to Assad’s government.

Assad, who inherited power 11 years ago from his father, is facing a swiftly escalating challenge to his rule.

Syrian army defectors attacked military and intelligence bases near the capital and an army checkpoint in Hama province.

Attacks on regime forces by renegade troops have been growing in recent days as the country’s political crisis appears to be spiralling out of control.

Although activists say the anti-government protesters have remained largely peaceful, an armed insurgency has developed in recent months, targeting Assad’s military and security forces.

Yesterday’s deadliest attack was in the central province of Hama, where army defectors killed at least eight soldiers and security forces in an assault on a checkpoint in Kfar Zeita village, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Syrian army defectors also said they launched several attacks on Assad’s military and intelligence bases near the capital before dawn yesterday.

The Free Syrian Army said in a statement that its main pre-dawn attack targeted a compound run by Air Force Intelligence in the Damascus suburb of Harasta. Defectors also hit military checkpoints in the Damascus suburbs of Douma, Qaboun and Arabeen and Saqba.

A Syrian opposition figure said the operation in Harasta was carried out by defectors who attacked the compound from three sides with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. He added that the administrative building was damaged, and the attackers made sure not to hit a nearby building where detainees were being held.

Attacks by army defectors have been rare near Assad’s seat of power in Damascus, although there have been growing reports of the clashes in the northwestern province of Idlib, the central region of Homs and the southern province of Daraa.