West expels Syrian envoys

the central town of Houla, in which at least 108 people, including 49 children, were killed, according to UN figures.
Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States acted in concert to step up the pressure on Assad’s regime after the killings, many of them summary executions blamed on pro-government militia.
“We hold the Syrian government responsible for this slaughter of innocent lives,” said US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, telling Syrian charge d’affaires Zuheir Jabbour that he had 72 hours to leave the country. In her written statement, Nuland said the massacre was “the most unambiguous indictment to date” of Syria’s flagrant UN Security Council violations and urged all countries to “condemn the actions of the Assad regime through similar action.”
Bulgaria also announced it was expelling Syria’s interim ambassador and two other diplomats to protest the brutal killings.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the expulsion of the top Syrian diplomat in London, charge d’affaires Ghassan Dalla, and two other envoys would send a “stark message” to Assad.
The move was aimed at increasing pressure on senior figures in the regime, “to get the message across to them that they have to choose, that time will run out for Assad,” Hague said.
Dalla was given seven days to leave Britain. Syria had already withdrawn its ambassador from London. — AFP.