US ally Jordan said on Monday it was expelling Syria's ambassador for accusing the kingdom of backing Syrian rebels, prompting Damascus to retaliate by barring Jordan's top diplomat. A Jordanian foreign ministry statement gave Syrian Ambassador Bahjat Suleiman, a former general and intelligence chief, 24 hours to leave. It said he had violated diplomatic protocol by posting repeated comments on social media that criticised Jordan and its Gulf allies.
"Mr Suleiman used the territory of the kingdom as a platform to level unfounded accusations in more than one statement and post...this was despite repeated warnings for a long while," the statement on state news agency Petra said.