Robert Ford: U.S. Asking Syria to Immediately End Assistance to Hizbullah

U.S. Ambassador to Damascus Robert Ford expressed his country’s concern about ties between Syria and Hizbullah and voiced alarm over reported transfers of arms to the Shiite party.

In an interview with Radio Sawa, the Arabic language radio station funded by the U.S. government, Ford said “the U.S. administration asked Syria to immediately stop its assistance to Hizbullah and to recognize the sovereignty of Lebanon on its territory as part of friendly ties” between the two countries.

The ambassador also urged Syrian authorities to start a “real dialogue” with representatives of the opposition and civil society and end their violent crackdown on protestors seeking democracy in the country.

The majority of victims in the past weeks of violence were unarmed civilians, Ford told the radio station, saying the Assad regime should allow peaceful demonstrations in Syria.

The ambassador added that he wasn’t seeing any serious political dialogue with protestors despite the mass demonstrations.