Syria has declared unwelcome the ambassadors of several Western states, a week after governments around the world expelled its top diplomats.

The envoys of the US, UK, France and Turkey were among the diplomats designated "personae non grata".

President Bashar al-Assad blamed "foreign meddling" for Syria's divisions in a speech on Sunday.

The move came as activists said at least seven people had been killed in violence across Syria on Tuesday.

Four civilians were killed overnight in a "huge military operation" in Kafrouaid, a village in the Jabal al-Zawiya area of the northern province of Idlib, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Troops and pro-regime militiamen backed by tanks were also reported to have stormed the town of Kfar Zita in the central province of Hama, and killed two rebel fighters in the Mediterranean port city of Latakia.

Several villages south-west of the central city of Homs earlier came under intense army artillery- and mortar-fire, leaving three people dead, according to the Local Co-ordination Committees, an activist network.

'Importance of dialogue'
Last week, at least 13 countries expelled top Syrian diplomats in protest at the massacre of more than 100 people, including 49 children, in the Houla area of Homs province. Turkey expelled all Syrian embassy staff.

In what it described as a reciprocal move on Tuesday, the Syrian government announced that 17 diplomats from the US, UK, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany and Canada were now considered "personae non gratae".

All Turkish diplomatic staff were also declared unwelcome.

"The Syrian Arab Republic still believes in the importance of dialogue based on principles of equality and mutual respect," a foreign ministry statement said.

"We hope the countries that initiated these steps will adopt those principles, which would allow relations to return to normal again."

The BBC Jim Muir in Beirut says it will be a long time before the Western states are prepared to re-establish diplomatic ties.

Many have already withdrawn their ambassadors on security grounds or for political reasons, our correspondent adds.

US ambassador Robert Ford was called back to Washington in October over fears for his safety, while all British embassy staff were withdrawn in March on security grounds.

France also closed its embassy that month in protest at the "scandalous" repression of dissent by the government.







PNA