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(CNN) -- A "mob" attacked the U.S. Embassy in Syria on Monday, causing damage, U.S. officials said. The United States demanded compensation from Syria.

Several demonstrators climbed over a fence at the compound in Damascus, a senior U.S. State Department official said.

The mob threw rocks and used other destructive measures in an attack that lasted a few hours, but the building was not breached and no one was injured, an official inside the embassy told CNN

A mob later attacked the U.S. chief of mission's residence as well, a State Department spokeswoman said.

Demonstrators also tried to break into the French Embassy, said Romain Nadal, a spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry.

Security officers at the French Embassy were forced to fire three warning shots, the embassy said on its official Twitter account.

In recent days, both the U.S. and French embassies have seen demonstrations by angry Syrians supporting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

The U.S. and French ambassadors last week visited Hama, a city in which the Syrian military has been fighting to crush protests by people seeking governmental reform, according to Syrian human rights activists. A Syrian official last week insisted no military operation was under way in Hama, despite the reports.

After the ambassadors went to Hama, the Syrian government condemned them for visiting the city without permission. Syria's foreign ministry insisted the visit violated the Vienna Convention.

U.S. officials said Syria's failure to protect the embassy on Monday violated the convention.

The Syrian government was slow in responding with additional security measures, the U.S. embassy official said. "We call on the Syrian government to abide by the protections required under the Vienna Convention."

A picture from the scene shows a crowd of people waving Syrian flags as a few people scale a fence outside the embassy. It was unclear from the photo how many people were involved in the demonstration.

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I saw something about this on the BBC website.  Unfortunately I'm not surprised the Syrian government didn't intervene to protect the embassies.

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Originally Posted by Bryant Platt:
I saw something about this on the BBC website.  Unfortunately I'm not surprised the Syrian government didn't intervene to protect the embassies.

of course not. whatever takes some of the heat off of them.