Protesters outside the US embassy compound Friday. (AP)
DAMASCUS, Syria – Angry pro-government protesters attacked the US Embassy and the American ambassador’s home in Damascus Monday, causing some damage but no injuries before US Marine guards intervened.
A State Department spokesperson in Washington said a television station heavily influenced by Syrian authorities encouraged the violence and that Syrian authorities were slow to respond with extra security measures.
A US official told FOX News in Jerusalem a battering ram was used to breach the embassy grounds.
Once inside the compound, witnesses told Al Jazeera the attackers smashed windows, raised a Syrian flag and wrote anti-American graffiti referring to US Ambassador Robert Ford as a “dog.”
However, they were unable to enter the embassy building itself.
It was not known if Ford was in either the embassy or residence at the time of the morning assaults.
He and the French ambassador, Erik Chevallier angered government loyalists last week when they visited the flashpoint city of Hama, scene of some of the largest protests against the rule of President Bashar al Assad.
A similar attack was staged Monday afternoon at the French embassy in Damascus. Three staff were injured there, AFP reported, and the ambassador’s car was destroyed.
Security guards there fired into the air and used tear gas to drive back the crowds, Al Jazeera reported.
The State Department spokesman said no staff at either the US embassy or ambassador’s home was injured and no one had been in imminent danger.
Because Syrian security forces were late to respond, US Marines intervened to push back the crowd on the embassy grounds.
Washington responded by calling Syria’s senior diplomat there to lodge a complaint.
“We strongly condemn the Syrian government’s refusal to protect our embassy and demand compensation for damages,” the State Department spokesman said.
Protesters threw rocks and eggs at the US embassy on Saturday, Ford said in a statement published on Facebook on Sunday.
“How ironic that the Syrian government lets an anti-US demonstration proceed freely while their security thugs beat down olive branch-carrying peaceful protesters elsewhere,” Ford said.
In the statement, Ford reiterated his support for protesters in Hama. “Hama and the Syrian crisis is not about the US at all. This is a crisis the Syrian people are in the process of solving. It is a crisis about dignity, human rights, and the rule of law,” he added.