A GROUP of 20 to 30 broke into the Syrian embassy in O'Malley at 9.40pm last night, terrorising staff and causing extensive damage to the building.
Three embassy staff were in the Culgoa Circuit building at the time and they barricaded themselves in an office at the rear of the building and called police for help after the men left.
No details were available regarding the intruders and police were searching for them late last night.
Police cordoned off streets around the embassy while they hunted for those responsible.
The Syrian embassy in London was similarly attacked yesterday, with five people arrested after gaining entry as a protest erupted at the building, Scotland Yard said.
About 150 demonstrators descended on the embassy in Belgrave Square amid reports of more than 200 people killed in a deadly barrage in the central city of Homs.
Syria's government denied its army bombarded Homs, instead blaming the bloodshed on ''armed gunmen'', state media reported.
The Government ''denies shelling by the army in certain districts of Homs, as peddled by television stations that are inciting violence,'' the official SANA news agency said, after rights groups reported that hundreds of civilians were killed in the assault on the protest hub.
''The civilians shown by satellite television stations are citizens who were kidnapped and killed by armed gunmen,'' SANA said.
The assault in Homs comes as the UN Security Council prepares to vote on a draft resolution backing an Arab call for President Bashar Assad to give up power.
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