DAMASCUS —  Syria launched a diplomatic offensive Wednesday, warning French and U.S. ambassadors they risked expulsion if they breached a travel ban on leaving Damascus, while issuing an apology to Qatar for an attack by demonstrators on its embassy that prompted it to suspend work in the country.

Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem warned the French and U.S. ambassadors not to travel outside Damascus after they both visited the flashpoint central city of Hama July 7.

“We will impose a ban on any [diplomatic] travel more than 25 kilometers outside Damascus, if the ambassadors continue to ignore [our] guidance,” Moallem told the envoys at a meeting broadcast by state television.

“I hope that we will not be forced to impose the ban,” he added.

“We did not expel the two ambassadors because we had hoped to maintain better relations in future.”

Damascus reacted furiously to the visit, accusing the U.S. ambassador of seeking to undermine the stability of Syria and calling in both ambassadors for consultations.

Washington insisted Damascus had been notified in advance.

The Foreign Ministry called U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford’s presence in Hama “obvious proof of the implication of the United States in the ongoing events, and of their attempts to increase [tensions], which damage Syria’s security and stability.”

Mobs stormed the American and French embassies July 11, further raising tensions. On the same day, protesters had attacked the Qatari Embassy in Damascus with stones and eggs, prompting the Qatari ambassador to Damascus, Zayed al-Khayarine, to quit Syria and the embassy to suspend its work.

“Syria has sent a letter of apology to the Qatari Foreign Affairs Ministry,” a Qatari official said on condition of anonymity.