Syria's ambassador to Egypt has accused opposition activists backed by oil-rich Gulf Arab nations of storming the country's embassy in Cairo.
Youssef Ahmed said in a statement that unspecified Gulf nations are funding activists from the opposition Syrian National Council, who he says broke down the gates of the embassy and stole documents from inside the building on Friday.
He says Egyptian authorities "failed to protect" the embassy.
On Friday, at least 200 protesters forced their way into the building in the Garden City neighborhood in Cairo, breaking doors and windows, before Egyptian security officials arrived and took them out. No arrests were made.
The Syrian National Council could not be reached immediately for comment on Saturday.
Syria has been gripped by violence since March, with a regime crackdown on dissent leaving more than 5,400 dead including 384 children, according to UN figures.
The head of the Arab League monitoring mission in Syria said that, since Tuesday, unrest had soared "in a significant way," especially in the flashpoint central cities of Homs and Hama and in the northern Idlib region.
