Syrian Ambassador to the United States Imad Moustapha
Syria has recalled its ambassador to the United States shortly after the Obama administration pulled its envoy out of the Arab state.
“Imad Moustapha is already recalled to Damascus for consultations,” Reuters quoted an unnamed spokesperson for the Syrian Embassy in Washington on Monday.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said on Monday that the United States had pulled its ambassador to Damascus, Robert Ford, after he received "credible threats against his personal safety in Syria."
President Assad said in late August that Washington and its European partners were hindering political change in Syria, while political solution was the only way out of the country's crisis.
“In the beginning, the aim is not reforms for the West, they do not want reforms ... They do not want us to make reforms,” Assad said.
“The reforms for the colonial Western powers, their main aim is ... to give them what they want, to tell them I abandon everything, I abandon all my rights. This is reforms for them ... and this is something they cannot dream about,” he added.
“The plan was to overthrow Syria during a period of weeks and what helped us is the will and vigilance of the Syrian people.”
Assad also noted that the Syrian constitution required revision and the promised reforms would be implemented within the next few months.
Syria has been experiencing unrest ever since mid-March, with demonstrations being held both against and in support of President Bashar al-Assad's government.
The United Nations says 2,900 people, many of them members of the security forces, have been killed during the unrest.
The Syrian government says outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorists are the driving factor behind the unrest and deadly violence while the opposition accuses the security forces of being behind the killings.
The Syrian government also says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country and the security forces have been given clear instructions not to harm civilians.
MP/HGH
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