Syria government expels 17 western ambassadors.

Bashar al-Assad( Syria's President) ........ Last week, at least 13 countries expelled top Syrian diplomats in protest at the massacre of more than 100 people, including 49 children, in the Houla area of Homs province. Turkey expelled all Syrian embassy staff. In what it described as a reciprocal move on Tuesday, the Syrian government announced that 17 diplomats from the US, UK, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany and Canada were now considered "personae non gratae". All Turkish diplomatic staff were also declared unwelcome. "The Syrian Arab Republic still believes in the importance of dialogue based on principles of equality and mutual respect," a foreign ministry statement said. "We hope the countries that initiated these steps will adopt those principles, which would allow relations to return to normal again." The BBC Jim Muir in Beirut says it will be a long time before the Western states are prepared to re-establish diplomatic ties. Many have already withdrawn their ambassadors on security grounds or for political reasons, our correspondent adds. US ambassador Robert Ford was called back to Washington in October over fears for his safety, while all British embassy staff were withdrawn in March on security grounds. France also closed its embassy that month in protest at the "scandalous" repression of dissent by the government. Culled from BBC