The French Foreign Ministry has released a statement about the "attacks" on the French embassy in Syria earlier on Monday.

"For the second time in two days, the French embassy in Damascus, at the same time as the US embassy, was targeted for attacks and vandalism by well-organised groups, in view of Syrian security forces....A battering ram was used to try to break down the doors of our diplomatic mission, windows were broken, intrusions were made inside the embassy, three sentries were injured, and the ambassador's car was destroyed.

"We call on the Syrian authorities... to respect the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations."