French Envoy Returns to Syria
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
French ambassador to Syria Eric Chevallier has returned to Damascus more than two weeks after being recalled in response to the Syrian government's crackdown on dissent, the embassy said on Friday.
"I can confirm that the ambassador of France returned to Damascus on Thursday night," a spokesman told Agence France Presse.
He declined to comment if the return was related to efforts to evacuate wounded French reporter Edith Bouvier, and the body of dead French photojournalist Remi Ochlik, from the besieged Homs area of Baba Amr.
"We do not comment on this issue," he said.
Ochlik and veteran U.S. war reporter Marie Colvin were killed Wednesday when a rocket hit a makeshift media center in the rebel-held district. Bouvier and British photographer Paul Conroy were wounded in the incident and asked to be evacuated.
On February 7, the French foreign ministry said it was recalling Chevallier for consultations, "faced with the worsening repression being carried out by the Damascus regime against its own population."
It was the second time France recalled its envoy.
Spokesman Bernard Valero said then that Paris was in discussions with partners in the European Union to "reinforce sanctions," referring to the EU's economic measures against the regime of President Bashar Assad and major supporters.
Paris' decision to pull its envoy came after Italy, Britain and the United States also withdrew theirs.
24 February 2012, 12:19
01
let all of the non-fighting ppl to get out of the neighborhoods. give them assistance. check for weapons. the syrian gov;t should try to just injure the rebels
24 February 2012, 13:42
10
Homs has become the capital of Al Qaida. Call them Sunni crazies, Salafis, Wahhabis, Muslim Brothers, or just plain world-class criminals. No wonder Geagea and Jumblat consider them their brothers. 3alehom
24 February 2012, 14:20
01
Lol no jc. Whatever they do it's called "increasing pressure on the regime". That applies to both the withdrawal and return of their ambassadors. I just hope they don't lift their sanctions because that would create enough pressure to topple the Syrian government.
24 February 2012, 14:59
00
Assad is so over, his country is likely to get split with an Alawi Emirate....
24 February 2012, 15:54
01
we witnessed the same thing back in 1978 when these low life Syrian army bombed east Beirut non stop for 8 days straight. kids crying in the basement, no food no water in constent fears non stop. whoever witnessed that only know what those people are going through.
24 February 2012, 16:36
10
sergio, oh yes poor Lebanese people were not killing each other based on ID way before Syria ever got involved, right? You can't change history. The Lebanese civil war featured horrific barbaric animals that are now political leaders in Lebanon.
