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Summary The US envoy in Damascus has defied Syrian government by making a visit to the restive to Jassem.
The US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, spent nearly four hours in the town, south of the capital, and did not inform Syrian authorities of the visit until his return, the department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, said.Syrian officials had clamped restrictions on Mr Fords travel after he made a surprise trip last month to Hama to show support for pro-democracy protesters.A United Nations human rights team is investigating the violence in Syria. Activists said that despite the presence of the UN team in Syria, security forces had killed at least five more civilians in the suburbs of Hama, one of the countrys most restive cities.Mr Ford decided to go it alone and travel to Jassem after Syrian officials denied requests by the US embassy for permission to travel to destinations around the country, including Aleppo, Syrias largest city, Ms Nuland said.He informed the Syrian Foreign Ministry after the visit, and he made clear to them that the reason that he didnt inform them before the visit was because they havent been approving any visits by anybody, anywhere, she said.During his visit, Mr Ford spoke to a number of Syrians, including opposition figures, to express his admiration for their commitment to peaceful protest, Ms Nuland said.She said there was no immediate response from the Syrian government, but government agents appeared to track his movements. Jassem has been the scene of anti-government protests since mid-March.Syrias imposition of travel restrictions on US diplomats prompted a retaliatory move by the State Department, which barred Syrian officials from travelling outside the Washington area without advance notice.The UN Human Rights Council has sent a team to investigate what it called systematic human rights violations in the governments attempt to crush five months of protests challenging the regime of the President, Bashar al-Assad. Activists said three women were among those killed after they were caught in raids on al-Ghab Plain, a stretch of farmland in the north-west.The UN says at least 2200 people have been killed in Syria since the revolt began in mid-March.
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