<p>The State Department yesterday ordered embassy family members and some non-emergency personnel to leave Syria, after an earlier travel warning telling US citizens to leave the country because of escalating attacks on protesters.<br /><br />At the same time, Washington has defended the presence of a US ambassador in Damascus, who only arrived after a six-year absence in January, as Assad's forces deployed tanks and snipers, killing at least 25 people in a key town.<br /><br />"The brutal violence used by the government of Syria against its people is completely deplorable and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms," National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said today.</p>
<p>The State Department yesterday ordered embassy family members and some non-emergency personnel to leave Syria, after an earlier travel warning telling US citizens to leave the country because of escalating attacks on protesters.<br /><br />At the same time, Washington has defended the presence of a US ambassador in Damascus, who only arrived after a six-year absence in January, as Assad's forces deployed tanks and snipers, killing at least 25 people in a key town.<br /><br />"The brutal violence used by the government of Syria against its people is completely deplorable and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms," National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said today.</p>