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Summary Syria declared diplomats of several Western states and Turkey as personae non gratae on Tuesday.
The foreign ministry said it made the move against the ambassadors of the United States, Britain, France and Turkey, among others, in response to the expulsion of its own diplomats, in the aftermath of last months Houla massacre.Some states recently informed heads of our diplomatic missions and embassy staff that they are unwelcome, said a statement that also named the ambassadors of Canada, Italy and Spain and embassy staff from Belgium, Bulgaria and Germany.The statement said Syria still believes in the importance of dialogue based on principles of equality and mutual respect and that diplomacy is a necessary tool for countries to resolve disputes.We hope that those countries which initiated this step will adopt the same principles, allowing for relations to be normalised, it added.A slew of mainly Western countries expelled Syrian diplomats in the wake of the massacre in late May of at least 108 people near the central town of Houla, one of the worst atrocities in the country since an uprising erupted in March 2011.On the ground, troops and pro-regime militia backed by tanks went on a new offensive against rebels, seizing the central town of Kfar Zita after three days of bombardment, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding rebel fighters had withdrawn.Militiamen looted homes and shops after town residents fled, the watchdog said.It said four civilians were killed overnight in a huge military operation in the Kfar Oweid area of Idlib, a province bordering Turkey that is a stronghold of rebel forces.The foes also clashed in several other areas of the province in northwest Syria, said the Britain-based Observatory.The monitoring group said districts of the flashpoint city of Homs, also north of Damascus, came under artillery fire as part of a campaign by regular forces to destroy them completely.In Latakia on the Mediterranean, two rebel fighters were killed in an attack by regime troops on the town of Al-Hafa, the group said. It said one of those killed was an officer who had defected from the regular army to join insurgents.Clashes in and around Al-Hafa are ongoing, and regime forces are attacking the town with heavy machinegun fire and mortar shells, the Observatorys head Rami Abdel Rahman told
