The Obama administration closed its embassy in Damascus Monday as Syria’s brutal military crackdown on its own people reached a diplomatic tipping point. The State Department said Ambassador Robert Ford left Syria with all 17 of his American aides. Click below to find out more.
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“Ambassador Ford will maintain contacts with the Syrian opposition and continue our efforts to support the peaceful political transition which the Syrian people have so bravely sought,” said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

Any formal dealings with the Syrian regime appeared to be at an end.

All American citizens left in Syria were told to “depart immediately” because their safety could no longer be guaranteed.

Britain also recalled its ambassador. “This is an utterly unacceptable situation which demands a united international response,” said British Foreign Secretary William Hague.

Syrian forces intensified shelling on the rebellious city of Homs, striking a medical clinic and a residential neighborhood.

Al Jazeera TV showed live pictures of smoke billowing into the sky over Homs as men and women wailed and blood stained the sidewalks.

“Rockets are falling. There are massive explosions that shook buildings. We don’t know really what to do,” Abu Abdo Alhomsy, a member of the revolutionary council in Homs, told Al Jazeera.

“Nobody can go out, we don’t know how many homes have been hit or how many people died.”

It was the start of a 12th month of attacks on Homs and the third day of a bloody new onslaught that began when Russia and China vetoed a United Nations attempt to stop the crackdown – emboldening the Assad regime.

About 30 people were reported killed Monday in Homs, and 200 were massacred Saturday, according to activist reports filtering out from behind a news blackout.

Damascus denied shelling Homs, saying “armed terrorist groups” were attacking civilians.

Arab Spring protests began in Syria a year ago when the whole region began to erupt, but after seeing tyrants toppled in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, President Bashar Assad ordered no mercy for protesters.

Washington has imposed sanctions and worked quietly for regime change, to little apparent effect.

Civil war has been looming since the autumn, when some military officers defected to form the Free Syrian Army and take on the Syrian Army forces loyal to Assad.

Parts of Homs, the center of Syrian opposition, were no longer under regime control.

“The deteriorating security situation that led to the suspension of our diplomatic operations makes clear once more the dangerous path Assad has chosen,” Nuland said.

In Cairo, Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said he was “extremely alarmed and concerned” at the use of heavy weapons by Syrian forces.

The U.S., Europe and much of the Arab world united to condemn Russia and China for their vetoes at the UN.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called it a “travesty” and

President Obama has ruled out using force to help the rebels – as was done in Libya – but predicted Assad’s days were numbered.

“My sense is that you’re seeing more and more people inside of Syria recognizing that they need to turn a chapter,” he said in an NBC News interview Sunday. “This is not going to be a matter of ‘if.’ It’s going to be a matter of ‘when.’”

DN