Assad loyalists attack US embassy in Syria

Assad loyalists attack US embassy in Syria

Pro-government protesters attack American diplomatic compound as guards fire in air outside French embassy in Damascus.

Protesters smashed windows and raised a Syrian flag at the US diplomatic compound in Damascus on Monday.

They also wrote anti-American graffiti referring to the US ambassador as a "dog", witnesses said.

Though the protesters reportedly had already left the complex, a US embassy official said the response of the Syrian authorities was "slow and insufficient".

Meanwhile, security guards at the French embassy fired into the air to drive back loyalists of President Bashar al-Assad.

The incident "is now finished", Bernard Valero, a French embassy spokesman, said.

The protests come days after the US and French ambassadors visited the opposition stronghold of Hama in central Syria.

The attacks also coincide with government-organized talks in Damascus on possible political reforms after four months of unrest against Assad's government.

Violence in Homs

Syrian troops killed at least one civilian in overnight raids in the city of Homs, activists said, a day after the authorities held a "national dialogue" meeting boycotted by the opposition.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday that 20 people were injured as residents tried to take shelter from armoured vehicles firing machineguns on densely populated  neighbourhoods.

Residents said the raids were the heaviest since the military stormed the central city, Syria's third largest, two months ago to try to crush street protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule.

"Military raids and house-to-house arrests have become routine after protests," said a resident of Homs' Bab Sbaa district. "But this time they did not stop shooting all night in the main neighbourhoods."

Syria has barred most independent media from operating inside the country, making it difficult to verify accounts of activists and authorities.

'National dialogue' boycotted

On Sunday, Syria had opened a "national dialogue" that it hailed as a step towards multi-party democracy after five decades of Baath party rule.

The government said the discussions would include a new media law, but the credibility of the talks appeared to have been undermined by an opposition boycott.

Rula Amin, Al Jazeera's correspondent, said: "We have to remember that whoever is there came on an invitation from the government.

"The opposition figures who we spoke to, said that we heard very nice words but what we want to see is actions and deeds. Word wise, this is unprecedented, beyond that, this meeting will not bring any results.

"Before it is seen as [a] serious [attempt], they have to see action on the ground, the [security] forces have to be withdrawn. As otherwise everything that is said is meaningless."

Delegates at the two-day meeting in Damascus, the capital, observed a minute's silence in memory of the "martyrs" before the national anthem was played.

"We are going to hold a comprehensive national dialogue during which we will announce Syria's transition towards a multi-party democratic state in which everyone will be equal and able to participate in the building of the nation's future," Faruq al-Shara, Syria's vice president, said in his opening address.

Limited progress

Al-Assad announced the dialogue in a keynote speech on June 20, only his third address since unprecedented protests against his rule erupted in mid-March.

The government said that delegates would be invited to discuss a wide range of reforms, including amending clause eight of the constitution which enshrines the leading role of the Baath party in Syrian political life.

Delegates were expected to include some independent MPs as well as members of the Baath party, in power since 1963.

But opposition figures said they would boycott the meeting in protest at the government's continued deadly crackdown on dissent.

Since the protests began, the government has killed more than 1,300 civilians and arrested at least 12,000, human rights groups say.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies