Western governments recall ambassadors and diplomats from Syria

On Tuesday, the governments of the United States, France, Britain, Spain, Germany, Italy, Australia, and Canada coordinated their moves to recall their ambassadors and high-ranking diplomats from Syria in protest over the killing of over 100 people in the Houla massacre on Friday.

Switzerland declared the Syrian ambassador persona non grata.

Meanwhile, on the same day, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met with UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan to discuss efforts to rescue the tattered peace plan.

On Sunday, the head of the UN observer mission in Syria, Major General Robert Mood, said during a briefing via videoconference to the UN Security Council that UN observers in Houla estimate that 108 people were killed, including 49 children and 34 women.

The UN Security Council condemned the violence in Houla during an emergency meeting on Sunday, saying the clashes “involved a series of government artillery and tank shelling on a residential neighborhood.”

The opposition Syrian National Council has called on Western governments to push for a UN Security Council resolution authorizing a Libyan-style military intervention against Assad’s government.

However, Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja’afari censured the “tsunami of lies” by some members of the Security Council and said the Syrian forces were not to blame for the violence.

The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country and that security forces have been given clear instructions not to harm civilians.