Four Gulf States Close Their Embassies in Syria BEIRUT, Lebanon - Syria's diplomatic isolation in the Arab world deepened on Friday as four more Gulf states were reported to be closing their embassies in Damascus while government forces pressed offensives in the north of the country and in areas around the capital. The developments came a day after crowds thronged the city, bringing it to a near-standstill for what the government billed as a "Global March for Syria" - marking a year of bloody and widening protest which the authorities describe as a foreign-inspired conspiracy fueling senseless violence. The Saudi press agency reported late Thursday that four members of the Saudi-dominated Gulf Cooperation Council - Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar - had joined Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in announcing the closure of their embassies in Damascus. The agency said the announcement was made by Abdullatif al-Zayani, the council's secretary general. The attempt to isolate Damascus deepened a division pitting a diplomatic alliance of Western and Arab countries against the few remaining allies of President Bashar al-Assad, notably China, Russia and Iran. Several Western countries, including the United States, have closed their embassies in Damascus as their governments press Mr. Assad to step aside as part of a settlement. But Mikhail Bogdanov, the Russian deputy foreign minister, was quoted on Friday in news reports as saying efforts to challenge Mr. Assad's legitimacy were "counterproductive," encouraging armed opponents, army defectors and other foes of his government to reject dialogue with him. The state of diplomatic play is to figure Friday in a briefing to the United Nations Security Council by Kofi Annan, a former secretary general who has been appointed a special envoy to Syria by both the United Nations and the Arab League. Mr. Annan held two rounds of talks with Mr. Assad in Damascus before leaving Syria on Sunday, but the discussions produced no published progress toward a settlement. Since those talks, fighting has seemed to continue, with the authorities pressing a campaign in the north around the town of Idlib that has sent refugees across the border into Turkey, while The Associated Press on Friday quoted anti-government activists as saying government troops clashed with army defectors near Damascus. The clashes in the suburbs of Qatana, Dumair and Tal came only weeks after loyalist troops launched a major military operation to quash revolt in those neighborhoods, The A.P. said. Anne Barnard reported from Beirut, Lebanon, and Alan Cowell from London.