US Ambassador crosses secretly into Syria, meets rebel leaders

US Ambassador to Dmascus Robert Ford briefly crossed into northern Syria Thursday to meet opposition leaders, then crossed back into Turkey.  US Secretary of State John Kerry, who asked the diplomat to engage the Syrian opposition – after he agreed on an international conference for Syria with Moscow – described the meeting as “very productive.” The US embassy in Damascus suspended operations in Damascus in February 2012 when the Syrian uprising grew into a full-blown civil war.