The Danish envoy to Syria and his staff have temporarily left the country as Damascus cannot guarantee their safety, Denmark's foreign ministry says.
The embassy will close and its consular interests will be handled by the German embassy in Damascus and its own office in Amman, it said in a statement.

Relations between Denmark and Syria have been strained since crowds stormed the Danish embassy last weekend.

They were protesting at Danish cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad.

The Danish diplomats "have provisionally left Syria because Syrian authorities reduced their protection to an unacceptably low level", the foreign ministry statement said.

Last Saturday, hundreds of protesters in Damascus hurled stones at the Danish embassy before scaling it, amid chants of "God is great". They then moved on to attack the Norwegian embassy.

Copenhagen urged its nationals to leave Syria at once and, along with Oslo, condemned Syria for failing to stop the attacks on the embassies.

The US also criticised Syria, saying it was "inexcusable" for such damage to be inflicted on diplomatic missions.

Editor given leave

A day after the attacks, Syria's foreign ministry issued a statement expressing "its regret over the acts of violence which accompanied the protests."

Damascus has not commented on the departure of Danish diplomats.

CARTOON ROW
30 Sept 2005: Danish paper publishes cartoons
20 Oct: Muslim ambassadors complain to Danish PM
10 Jan 2006: Norwegian publication reprints cartoons
26 Jan: Saudi Arabia recalls its ambassador
30 Jan: Gunmen raid EU's Gaza office demanding apology
31 Jan: Danish paper apologises
1 Feb: Papers in France, Germany, Italy and Spain reprint cartoons
4 Feb: Syrians attack Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus
5 Feb: Protesters set alight Danish embassy in Beirut
6-7 Feb: At least eight killed in Afghanistan as security forces try to suppress violent protests


In pictures: Cartoon protests
Timeline of the row
How can row be resolved?

Meanwhile, the Danish editor who commissioned the cartoons that were published last year has been sent on leave.

Flemming Rose, culture editor of the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, got the order after saying he might print Iranian cartoons of the Holocaust.

The Danish cartoons, seen by many Muslims as insulting to their faith, have sparked worldwide protests.

Earlier this week, an Iranian newspaper said it was holding a contest inviting cartoonists to depict the Holocaust.

Hamshahri said it wanted to test the boundaries of free speech, echoing the reasons Jyllands-Posten and other European papers have given for publishing the caricatures.

The Jyllands-Posten newspaper, which has expressed regret for offending Muslims over the cartoons, said it would "in no circumstances" publish Iranian Holocaust pictures describing it as a "tasteless media stunt".

Mr Rose later apologised for his comments, saying he was "100% with the newspaper's line" on the issue.