FT: US Embassy personel ordered to leave Syria

"... Dozens of diplomatic personnel posted to the U.S. Embassy in Syria will return to the United States this week, the Financial Times reported today, citing State Department officials. The move comes amid growing U.S. and western condemnation of the Bashar al-Assad regime's brutal crackdown on anti-government unrest. The United Nations Security Council is expected to issue a press statement this afternoon condemning the violence. While U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford "and other essential staff will remain in Damascus..."It is time for us to start thinking about the day after Assad," he said. "Syria's 23 million citizens already have." Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with U.S.-based Syrian opposition members yesterday, in another poke in the eye to Assad"