U.S. Denies Envoy Summoned by Syria, Says Meeting Prescheduled

A senior U.S. official denied Sunday that the U.S. envoy to Syria had been summoned by Syria's foreign office and accused Damascus of orchestrating violent protests over the weekend at the U.S. embassy.

Tensions have been escalating for months between Damascus and Washington over the Syrian government's crackdown on months of opposition protests seeking to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

U.S. ambassador Robert Ford and French counterpart Eric Chevallier visited the flashpoint Syrian city of Hama on Thursday amid fears of a bloody protest crackdown by Assad's forces, with tanks encircling the city.

Syrian state news agency SANA said both envoys had been summoned on Sunday to the Syrian foreign ministry to protest their trip, which it described as "flagrant interference in Syria's domestic affairs."

But a senior U.S. State Department official said ambassador Ford had actually gone to the foreign ministry on Sunday to attend a previously scheduled meeting requested by the Americans.

"Ambassador Ford was not summoned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," the official said, adding that Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem did however file an official complaint about the Hama visit during their meeting.

"In the same meeting, Ambassador Ford made clear that Syrian government incitement of Syrians against the United States, including through aggressive protesters in front of the embassy, must stop," the official said.

"And the Syrian government must not use his visit to Hama -- meant only to gather information and support freedom of expression -- as propaganda."

The official described violent protests outside the U.S. embassy in Damascus that only ended on Saturday after security staff reached out to the Syrian authorities and asked them to send extra personnel.

"The Syrian government chose to protest Ambassador Ford's trip to Hama last week by organizing an angry protest outside the U.S. embassy in Damascus," the official said.

"The protest lasted 31 hours across Friday and Saturday with protesters calling for the ambassador to leave. Protesters eventually threw tomatoes, eggs, and later glass and rocks at the embassy. Two embassy employees were struck by food."

Assad opened a "national dialogue" on Sunday that his regime hailed as a step towards multi-party democracy after five decades of his Baath party rule, but its credibility was undermined by an opposition boycott.

"We and the Syrian people are looking for positive and genuine action from the Syrian government that leads to a transition," the senior State Department official said.

"This transition must meet the aspirations of the Syrian people. The Syrian government will be judged by its concrete actions, not its words."

SANA said Assad on Sunday named Anas Naim as the new governor of Hama after firing Ahmed Khaled Abdul Aziz on July 2, a day after huge anti-regime protests labeled the largest ever.

Security forces killed at least 15 people on Friday and arrested more than 200 during the anti-dialogue protests, activists said.

Human rights groups say that since the anti-regime protests first broke out, the security forces have killed more than 1,300 civilians and arrested at least 12,000.