Egypt decided Sunday to recall its ambassador to Syria, announced the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Egyptian foreign minister Amr Kamel Mohammed received the Ambassador Sunday morning and it was decided that the Ambassador remains in Cairo until further notice, according to a ministry statement.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has reviewed security measures to deal with possible arms trafficking and passages of insurgents across the Syria-Iraq border, according to an official statement issued Sunday. Maliki, who is the commander of Iraqi armed forces, Saturday chaired a meeting focused on security along the 600 km border between Iraq and Syria. The meeting was attended by senior officials in charge of security issues.
At the meeting, it was also decided to form a committee of senior officials to oversee and make a full assessment of border security.
This decision follows media reports that weapons and insurgents have made their way to Syria from Iraqi soil.
In Damascus, Syrian activists were expecting further demonstrations Sunday, under the slogan of civil disobedience. Elsewhere in the country, five people were killed in the ongoing violence, according to Syrian Observatory of Human Rights.
"We expect huge demonstrations" in Damascus, Dib al-Dimashqi, board member of the Syrian revolution told AFP, adding that "security forces are deployed en masse around the city."
On Saturday, between "15,000 and 20,000 persons" attended the funeral of four protesters shot dead by security forces in the area of Mazze, according to the Observatory. During the funeral, a fifth protester was killed when troops fired on participants in the ceremony.
The pro-democracy activists have called for civil disobedience Sunday in the capital on their Facebook page "Syrian Revolution 2011".
Further north, in the province of Homs, a woman was shot during raids carried out by pro-regime troops, while a man was shot dead by security forces in the province of Idleb (northwest ).
Moreover, in the same region, the Attorney General, a judge and their driver were shot dead by unidentified gunmen, according to the Observatory, while the official SANA news agency attributed the killings to "armed terrorist gangs" .
The agency also reported that "armed terrorist gangs" have fired a rocket at a fuel refinery in Homs (center).
