text: Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. ambassador to Syria visited the embattled town of Hama Thursday as part of what the State Department called an effort to show U.S. support for Syrians fighting for democracy. 
   
   Ambassador Robert Ford visited Hama "to make absolutely clear with his physical presence that we stand with those Syrians who are expressing their right to speak for change," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. 
   
   Hama has been wracked with violence and a general strike this week after a series of peaceful demonstrations, including a huge anti-government demonstration last Friday. A fierce crackdown ensued in the area, with activists and Human Rights Watch reporting many arrests and deaths. 
   
   President Bashar al-Assad fired the Hama provincial governor Saturday and security forces removed tanks to the outskirts of the city, a sign that the tensions there could be easing. 
   
   Ambassador Ford met with over a dozen Hama residents and visited a hospital that has treated some of those wounded in the security forces crackdown, Nuland said, adding that he was greeted with a "very warm welcome." 
   
   The state news agency SANA reported that a Foreign Ministry source accused Ford of going to Hama without obtaining prior permission from the government. According to the report, the Foreign Ministry official said Ford's visit was "clear evidence of the U.S. involvement in the ongoing events in Syria and its bids to aggravate the situations which destabilize Syria.'' 
   
   Nuland, however, said U.S. officials notified the Syrian government that an embassy team was traveling to Hama. 
   
   "The embassy informed Syrian officials that an embassy delegation, without specifying whom, would be heading to Hama. And they then proceeded to make their way there and were allowed to proceed," Nuland said. 
   
   Ford's delegation did not include any official Syrian "handlers," Nuland said, adding that Syrian authorities allowed him through check points to reach the town. 
   
   "For him to go personally at this time and stand with the people of Hama, I think expresses in physical terms -- not to mention political terms -- our view that the people of Hama have the right to express themselves peacefully and that we are concerned about the posture that the security forces have taken," Nuland said, adding that Ford plans to stay through protests planned on Friday. 
   
   It is unclear whether Hama residents will turn out for nationwide demonstrations on Friday after Muslim prayers. 
   
   Last month, Hama was the site of violent crackdowns by security forces that killed 60 protesters. 
   
   The city is a sensitive spot for Syrian authorities. In 1982, it was the scene of a brutal military crackdown targeting Sunni Muslims by the Alawite-dominated government of Hafez al-Assad, the current president's late father. Thousands were killed, with Human Rights Watch putting the toll at 10,000. ||||| Reports of biggest crowd in Syria so far in city at heart of opposition, as activists say 13 dead across country. 
   
   More than 500,000 Syrians flooded through the city of Hama on Friday, according to activists, in what they claim was the single biggest protest yet against the embattled government of President Bashar al-Assad. The opposition reported 13 protesters killed, including five deaths in the central city of Homs, two in the capital's commercial neighbourhood Midan and six in the Dumair area, east of Damascus. Syrian state-run TV said the deaths in Damascus and Homs were caused by snipers from "armed gangs". An activist told Al Jazeera that Hama, where marchers were seen carrying olive branches, had become a "tangible example of resistance to injustice" in Syria. Hundreds of thousands also protested last Friday in Hama, prompting mass arrests and reports of several deaths when Syrian security forces stormed the city, Syria's third largest, and the surrounding area. "Hama, with all the support it is receiving from all over the country, is becoming a role model for peaceful demonstrations and we are protesting here for all of Syria," the local activist said. Western solidarity Friday's protests followed a visit to Hama by Robert Ford, the US ambassador to Syria, who toured the city on Thursday to show solidarity with residents, the US State Department said. Ford reached the city after passing checkpoints run by the military and Hama residents. A US official said Ford left Hama on Friday afternoon to avoid becoming a distraction during the weekly demonstrations. Diplomats said on Friday that French ambassador Eric Chevallier was also in Hama to show support. Damascus accused Washington of "interfering" in its affairs. "The presence of the US ambassador in Hama without previous permission is obvious proof of a clear evidence of the United States' involvement in current events in Syria and its attempt to incite an escalation in the situation, which disturbs Syria's security and stability," the Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement. In response, the US state department said: "The fundamental intention was to make absolutely clear with his physical presence that we stand with those Syrians who are expressing their right to speak for change." In another development, Washington summoned the Syrian ambassador for talks this week after reports that embassy staff had filmed US protests against the crackdown in Syria. Ambassador Imad Mustapha was called in to meet with top State Department officials "to express a number of our concerns with the reported actions of certain Syrian embassy staff in the United States". 
   
   
   
   Mustapha met with Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security Eric Boswell on Wednesday, according to a State Department statement. 
   
   
   
   Fleeing Hama An estimated 1,000 Syrians have fled Hama in fear of another military crackdown on protests calling for Assad to quit and an end to the Baath Party's decades-long grip on power, a rights group said. 
   
   
   
   The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the residents had evacuated to Salamiyah, a town 30km from Hama, on Thursday. The rights group claimed that security forces have killed at least 23 civilians there and conducted mass arrests since Tuesday. 
   
   
   
   Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Organisation for Human Rights, said on Wednesday that an influx of troops following the massive Friday protest had brought a dramatic escalation of "killings and arrests in the city". But Al-Watan, a state-run newspaper, said on Thursday that the situation in Hama was calm and the barricades erected in the streets by protesters to keep security forces out had been dismantled. 
   
   
   
   The newspaper said authorities had told demonstrators to avoid any confrontations and clear the streets so residents could go to work. They also told protesters to avoid a "last resort" military operation, the paper said. Hama has been a symbolic city of opposition since the 1982 crackdown on a revolt by the banned Muslim Brotherhood against then-president Hafez al-Assad, father of the current leader. At least 20,000 people are believed to have been killed in the crackdown. There has also been violence in the city of Hasrata just outside Damascus where three people have been killed and nine injured by security forces, sources told Al Jazeera. Government troops surrounded the Hassan mosque on Thursday and fired at people coming out after prayers, the source said. Police also fired tear gas into the local hospital, according to reports.
target: – America's ambassador to Syria visited one of the cities worst-hit by the crackdown against anti-government protesters yesterday, reports CNN. Robert Ford went to the city of Hama "to make absolutely clear with his physical presence that we stand with those Syrians who are expressing their right to speak for change," an embassy spokeswoman says. An estimated 500,000 people joined an anti-government rally in the city last Friday. The Syrian government accused Ford of going to the city without authorization, saying the visit is "clear evidence of the US involvement in the ongoing events in Syria and its bids to aggravate the situations which destabilize Syria.'' An embassy spokeswoman says the Syrian government was told a delegation would be visiting Hama, although no Syrian "handlers" were taken and officials weren't informed about the ambassador's presence. The city has been a symbol of opposition since 1982, when a crackdown ordered by the present Syrian leader's father killed around 20,000 people, al-Jazeera notes.