A crowd of about 1,000 attacked the Turkish embassy in Damascus on Saturday evening, as news spread that the Arab League had taken action against Syria for failing to halt its armed crackdown on eight months of pro-democracy demonstrations.

The attackers threw stones and bottles before Syrian police intervened to break up the protest, Turkey’s state-run Anatolian news agency said.

Attacks were also staged against Turkey’s consulate in Aleppo and its honorary consulate in Latakia, it reported Turkish embassy officials in Damascus as saying.

Turkish foreign ministry officials were not immediately available to comment.

After cultivating ties with Assad and Syria for several years, Turkey has this year robustly condemned the repression of peaceful protests, fearing Syrian violence could spill over the border if it develops a stronger ethnic or sectarian dimension.

Syrian opposition figures have met in Istanbul to forge a united front, the Syrian National Council. Turkey has also given sanctuary to Syrian military officers who have defected.

Turkey is not a member of the Arab League.

Turkey’s NTV news channel said the families of staff at the embassy in Damascus would return to Turkey on Sunday.