SHOWDOWN IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Supporters of President Bashar Assad pelted the U.S. ambassador to Syria with eggs Thursday as he entered an office for a meeting with a leading opposition figure and then tried to storm the building in the capital Damascus, the opposition activist said.

Ambassador Robert Ford, an outspoken critic of Assad’s crackdown on the 6-month-old anti-government uprising, was trapped in the office for about three hours until Syria security forces showed up and escorted him out.

Ford came under attack as he arrived for a meeting with Hassan Abdul-Azim, who heads the outlawed Arab Socialist Democratic Union party.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanded that Syria take steps to protect U.S. diplomats.

"We condemn this unwarranted attack in the strongest possible terms. Ambassador (Robert) Ford and his aides were conducting normal embassy business and this attempt to intimidate our diplomats through violence is wholly unjustified," Clinton said.