Germany expels 4 Syrian embassy staff

Germany on Monday expelled four employees of the Syrian embassy in Berlin, the foreign minister said, as part of moves to further isolate the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. "We are sending a clear message with the expulsion of four Syrian embassy staff that we are reducing relations with the Assad regime to an absolute minimum," Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement. "We are counting on the (opposition) National Coalition growing more stable and developing as soon as possible functioning institutions for the political transition," he added. The foreign ministry said that Syria's acting envoy to Berlin had been informed of the decision earlier Monday and that the staff had until Thursday "to leave their posts" but declined to provide further information on their duties. Germany had expelled its Syrian ambassador in May, along with France, Britain, Italy and Spain following a massacre of more than 100 people in the Houla region, north of Homs. And in February, it threw out another four Syrian diplomats after the arrest of two men suspected of spying on regime opponents in Germany. In an interview published Monday, Westerwelle said Germany believed Assad's days were numbered. "The signs are multiplying that the power of the Assad regime continues to erode," he told the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Westerwelle said he was hopeful that opposition forces could unite and form a viable alternative to the Assad regime. "Great progress has been made in very little time," he said, speaking about the work of the National Coalition. Meanwhile the head of the German foreign intelligence agency (BND), Gerhard Schindler, said in a weekend interview that it was also counting on the Assad government's demise. "The Assad regime will not survive," he told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. "The armed opposition groups' coordination continues to improve. That makes the fight against Assad more effective." Ninety-four people, mostly civilians, were killed on Sunday across Syria, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on activists and medics for its information. The latest violence came ahead of a Friends of Syria nations meeting in Marrakesh Wednesday, which will bring together countries that support the anti-Assad revolt including Germany represented by Westerwelle. Since the last meeting, in Paris in July, the number of people killed has risen from 16,000 to more than 42,000, according to the Observatory.