Late on Tuesday, the United States recalled its ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, due to threats against his safety.
Ford was attacked by a pro-government "armed mob" last month, a United States official told CNN at the time. The official is not authorized to speak to the media and asked not to be named.
While there have been long-standing concerns about Ford's safety and threats against him, the decision was made to pull him temporarily after government-sponsored Syrian media began running false reports blaming Ford for death squads in Syria similar to the ones in Iraq, senior State Department officials told CNN.
The department was afraid the reports would inflame sentiment against Ford and would prompt pro-regime hardliners to harm and perhaps kill him, the officials said.
Needless to say, Washington is not happy. The State Department accuses Syria of "incitement" against him, and has also called for Damascus to end its "smear campaign" against him. There was initially no word on when he'd come back, but Reuters is reporting that he's hoping to be back by Thanksgiving.
Syria has recalled its ambassador to Washington in an apparent tit-for-tat move. It tells us all that we need to know about the nature of the Syrian regime that it hasn't taken action as of yet. Regardless of what you think about a country, threats against another country's ambassador are unacceptable. Period.