Jordan under pressure to withdraw envoy from Syria

Feb 8, 2012, 14:28 GMT

Amman - The Jordanian government came under mounting pressure Wednesday to withdraw its ambassador from Damascus, following escalation in the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in the neighbouring Arab country.

Hammam Saeed, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, the country's main opposition group, urged the government to follow the steps of the six member state of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Tunisia in pulling out their envoys from the Syrian capital in response to the 'massacres being committed against the civilians who demand freedom and dignity'.

He said that the Arab and Islamic countries adjacent to Syria 'should perform their role in removing the injustices inflicted on the Syrian people by this criminal regime.'

Late Tuesday, Islamists joined a demonstration in front of the Russian embassy in Amman to urge Moscow to drop its support for the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

The protest - the third of its type this week - came after Russia and China used their United Nations Security Council vetoes to block an Arab-sponsored resolution urging al-Assad to step down.

More Syrians fled to Jordan over the past three days, bringing the total to more than 3,000, according to charity organisations.

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