Iraq evacuates Damascus embassy staff to Lebanon
[NAHARNET] Iraqi embassy staff left Damascus on Sunday for neighboring Leb
...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers..., a diplomatic source told AFP, after Syrian rebel forces seized the capital and declared the end of President Bashir al-Assad's rule.
The foreign ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, said the embassy's 10 employees including the mission's chief arrived "in Beirut by land, and are all in good condition," adding that the evacuation was "due to the tensions in Damascus... the full withdrawal of the army and the loss of security."
| Courtesy of badanov: |
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] The Armenian embassy staff left Syria amid the fighting, where there were no longer any opportunities for the safe evacuation of Armenian citizens.
As the Caucasian Knot" reported, by December 5 thousands of Armenians remained in militant-held Aleppo. The Armenian authorities stated that they were ready to help evacuate them, but there is no way to ensure their exit from the city or deliver humanitarian aid.
According to the Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs in Armenia, there are about 30,000 Armenians living in Syria, most of whom live in Aleppo. On November 29, due to the intensification of military actions in Syria, the Armenian authorities evacuated a group of humanitarian demining specialists and medical workers from there .
The diplomatic staff of the Armenian Embassy in Damascus temporarily continues its work from Beirut, and the evacuation of Armenians from Syria is impossible, the Armenian Foreign Ministry reported.
The embassy staff's move is related to the situation in Syria. "After announcing a hotline last week, the embassy in Damascus responded to calls regarding visas to Armenia, passports and the possibility of evacuation. At the moment, there is no safe possibility for evacuation," the statement, translated into Russian by a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, reads.
Today, anti-government forces entered Damascus and announced the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, and the Syrian Prime Minister announced his intention to organize a peaceful transfer of power. The Russian Foreign Ministry reported that Bashar al-Assad had resigned and left the country, but his exact location was not specified, Kommersant writes.