Syria accused over attacks on Saudi and Qatari embassy

Saudi Arabia has condemned an attack on its embassy in Damascus by supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The Saudi and Qatari embassies were stormed by crowds after both countries voted to suspend Syria from meetings of the Arab League.

Saudi Arabia accused Syria's government of failing to take sufficient measures to stop the attack on its building.

The Arab League vote came after Syria failed to end a violent crackdown on opposition protesters.

Syrian authorities said the vote violated the league's charter, and accused it of serving a "Western and American agenda".

As the result became known on Saturday, groups of protesters gathered outside both the Saudi and Qatari embassies in the Syrian capital.

The French and Turkish consulates in the city of Latakia were also attacked, Reuters news agency reports.

The Saudi state news agency SPA said hundreds of Syrian government supporters threw rocks at its embassy. Some managed to get in, smashing windows and ransacking the building.

"Syrian authorities did not carry out the necessary measures to stop" the demonstrators, the SPA quoted the Saudi foreign ministry as saying.

"The Saudi government strongly condemns this incident and holds the Syrian authorities responsible for the security and protection of all Saudi interests in Syria," the ministry said.

Pro-Syrian government supporters also forced their way into the Qatari embassy - climbing to the top of the building to remove the Qatari flag and replace it with a Syrian one.

Both the Saudi and Qatari ambassadors left Damascus in the summer in protest at President Bashar al-Assad's crack down on protests in the country since March.

'Huge blow'

Eighteen member states of the Arab League - which is chaired by Qatar - voted on Saturday to suspend Syria from its meetings and impose sanctions. It has also asked member states to withdraw their ambassadors.

Syria, Lebanon and Yemen voted against the move, and Iraq abstained.

The vote was taken after Syria ignored an Arab League proposal - accepted by President Assad's government - which would have involved releasing prisoners, withdrawing security forces from the streets and beginning dialogue with the opposition.

The league has also called on Damascus to halt the violence, and warned it could refer Syria to the United Nations if the bloodshed did not stop.

The BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo says the decision is the most that anyone could have realistically expected from the Arab League.

It is a huge blow to Syria's pride, and could also be a real practical blow to its leaders, our correspondent adds.

The UN says more than 3,500 people have died since the start of the protests in March. Thirteen people died on Friday, most of them in the city of Homs, which has borne the brunt of the violence, and 12 died on Saturday.

Mass street protests after Friday prayers, followed by brutal crackdowns by security forces, have become a weekly feature of Syria's uprising.

President Assad's government insists it is battling armed gangs and militants and says hundreds of soldiers and police have been killed.

The government has restricted foreign journalists from entering the country, making it difficult to confirm events on the ground.