WASHINGTON — The Obama administration pulled its ambassador out of Syria over security concerns, blaming President Bashar Assad’s regime for the threats that made it no longer safe for him to remain.

Ambassador Robert Ford returned to Washington this weekend after the U.S. received “credible threats against his personal safety in Syria,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said today. Ford has been the subject of several incidents of intimidation by pro-government thugs, and enraged Syrian authorities with his forceful defense of peaceful protests and harsh critique of a government crackdown that has now claimed more than 3,000 lives.

“We hope that the Syrian regime will end its incitement campaign against Ambassador Ford,” Toner said. “At this point, we can’t say when he will return to Syria.”

Toner said the U.S. embassy will remain open in Damascus and that the threats were specifically directed toward Ford. His return is conditional on a U.S. “assessment of Syrian regime-led incitement and the security situation on the ground,” Toner said.