Syria Says it will Arrest Any Person Attacking Diplomatic Missions

Syria said it has issued a warning to its citizens that they would be arrested and prosecuted if they took part in further attacks on embassies.

"The interior ministry will take all necessary measures, including the arrest and trial, of any person seeking to attack diplomatic missions," the state news agency SANA reported.

Pro-Syrian President Bashar Assad protesters attacked the Moroccan and UAE embassies on Wednesday, officials said.

Ambassador Mohammed Khassasi told Agence France Presse between 100 and 150 demonstrators pelted the Moroccan embassy with eggs and stones and stripped it of its flag, angry at Rabat's hosting of Arab meetings that proved so critical of the Assad regime.

Morocco later recalled its ambassador from Damascus "to protest against a system that fails to renew itself," Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri said.

"The regime of Bashar Assad does not seem to listen, notably to outside efforts including those by the Arab League to settle the problem of violence."

The violent protests came despite a pledge by Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad to Arab ambassadors on Tuesday that there would be no repetition of the attacks on embassies.