Syria today denounced a statement by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton in which she said President Bashar al-Assad had lost legitimacy and was "not indispensable".
"Syria strongly condemns the statements of the American foreign minister . . . these remarks are provocative and aim at continuing the internal tension," Syria's state news agency, SANA, said.
"These statements are another proof of US's flagrant intervention in Syria's internal affairs. The legitimacy of Syria's leadership is not based on the United States or others, it stems from the will of the Syrian people," it said.
Diplomatic tension increased between the two countries after US ambassador Robert Ford visited the restive city of Hama, where Mr Assad is facing growing demonstrations against his rule.
Syria said Mr Ford sought to incite protests. The State Department denied that and said Mr Ford toured Hama to show solidarity with residents facing a security crackdown.
Mr Clinton's comments came after Assad loyalists attacked the US and French embassies in Damascus.
She condemned the Syrian attacks and said Washington did not believe the long-time Syrian ruler would follow through on his promises to reform in the face of escalating protests against his rule.
"From our perspective, he has lost legitimacy, he has failed to deliver on the promises he's made, he has sought and accepted aid from the Iranians as to how to repress his own people," Mrs Clinton told reporters in an appearance with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in Washington.
"If anyone, including President Assad, thinks that the United States is secretly hoping that the regime will emerge from this turmoil to continue its brutality and repression, they are wrong," she said.
"President Assad is not indispensable, and we have absolutely nothing invested in him remaining in power."
France today condemned Syria and said the United Nations Security Council's failure to speak out against the violent repression of pro-reform protests there was becoming "unbearable".
Prime Minister Francois Fillon said China and Russia were blocking adoption of a UN resolution and that this was not acceptable.
"President [Bashar al-] Assad has gone way beyond the limit. The UN Security Council's silence on Syria is becoming unbearable," Mr Fillon said in an interview on Europe 1 radio.
Paris has led efforts to pass a UN Security Council resolution condemning the crackdown, saying Mr Assad - whose family has ruled Syria for 41 years - has no legitimacy.
The French and US comments come amid a sharpening rhetoric on Mr Assad, whose security forces have waged an increasingly brutal crackdown against protesters inspired by pro-democracy movements elsewhere in the Arab world.
Several Assad loyalists broke into the US embassy in Damascus yesterday, and security guards used live ammunition to prevent hundreds from storming the French embassy, Western diplomats in the Syrian capital said.
They said the attackers tore down US embassy plaques and tried to break security glass in protests fuelled by the government against a visit by US and French ambassadors to the city of Hama, focus of protests against Mr Assad's rule.
Reuters