The United States Tuesday fingered Syria for failing to prevent the "heinous" terrorist attack in Beirut that killed the former Lebanese prime minister, and withdrew its ambassador to Damascus effective "immediately". White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Washington was not drawing any conclusions about who was behind the attack. "I think it's still premature to know who is the one responsible for the attack itself. But Syria's military presence there is not playing a helpful role; it is playing a destabilizing role," McClellan said. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said earlier that Ambassador Margaret Scobey would leave Damascus immediately for "urgent consultations" in Washington, but would return there at some future time. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had "decided to recall the U.S. ambassador to Syria ... following the brutal murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri", Boucher said. --More 2334 Local Time 2034 GMT
