Syria raises security in aftermath of embassy attacks

DAMASCUS, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Syria stepped up security at Western embassies on Sunday after being criticised for failing to protect the Danish and Norwegian embassies from attacks.

"More protection has been placed on diplomatic missions. Syria is committed to international conventions regarding the protection of foreign embassies," the foreign ministry said.

"The foreign ministry expresses its regret regarding the violent acts which accompanied the protests and caused material damage at some embassies," it said in a statement.

Crowds protesting against the publication by newspapers in Denmark and Norway of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad set fire to their embassies in Damascus on Saturday.

The demonstrators also damaged the Swedish embassy and tried to storm the French mission but were held off by riot police. No one was hurt in the violence.

Extra security personnel and squads of policemen in riot gear were deployed near the French and U.S. embassies on Sunday, witnesses said.

Fearing for their safety, scores of Danish and Norwegian citizens left Damascus by plane on Sunday. They were driven to the airport in buses and escorted by Syrian police. Both Denmark and Norway have urged their nationals to leave Syria.

A Danish expatriate who had worked in Syria for two years said the attacks undermined Syria's reputation.

"For the first time I feel unsafe here. The Syrians should take a hard look at themselves. Why did the authorities allow these groups to do this? Some of the cartoons were published in Jordan and nothing happened," she said.

"I was walking near my embassy yesterday, and had these protesters realised I was Danish, I would not be here talking to you now. These people were out of control."

The scale of the violence surprised many. Syria run by the secular Baath Party, prides itself as a stable nation.

President Bashar al-Assad, who took power after his father Hafez al-Assad died in 2000, has taken steps to open the economy and attract foreign investment after decades of socialist rule and central planning.

Syria's grand Mufti Badr Eddine Hassoun, told government newspaper al-Thawra that the attackers did their country harm.

"We feel sorrow that these people who were driven by passion reached the stage where they have undermined our dialogue with the Norwegian and Danes," he said.

Western countries said the responsibility lies with the Syrian government. The French ambassador toured the site of the two burnt embassies on Sunday and the United States blamed Syria for not protecting the complexes.