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Syrian troops attack funeral after US envoy visits | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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BEIRUT (AP) — Activists say Syrian security forces attacked a gathering of mourners just hours after U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford expressed his condolences to the family of a rights activist killed last week.

Mustafa Osso of the Local Coordination Committees network says the attack occurred on Tuesday night, after Ford and several other ambassadors had left the gathering in the Damascus suburb of Daraya.

Osso says troops fired tear gas at the tent with mourners and relatives of Ghayath Mattar following his funeral. No one was hurt.

A U.S. embassy official confirmed Ford’s visit, saying he was accompanied by other diplomats.

The Syrian regime is trying to crush the country’s 6-month-old uprising with deadly force, which has killed some 2,600 people.