"Syria is a dangerous place. This is the reason we have declared a state of emergency in Damascus. The Indonesian government has ordered Indonesian citizens to leave Syria." said the Chief of Economic, Information and Socio-cultural Functions at the
Cairo, Egypt (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian embassy in Damascus, Syria, has declared a state of emergency in the city.

"Syria is a dangerous place. This is the reason we have declared a state of emergency in Damascus. The Indonesian government has ordered Indonesian citizens to leave Syria. The government has requested the citizens to go to Lebanon," said the Chief of Economic, Information and Socio-cultural Functions at the Indonesian embassy in Beirut, Ahmad Syofian, on Wednesday.

He said over 600 Indonesia citizens (WNI) have been accommodated in the embassy of Damascus. The government is looking into the repatriation of its citizens.

The Indonesian government had repatriated at least 633 Indonesian citizens in Syria through the Damascus-Beirut-Jakarta route.

The Indonesian Ambassador to Lebanon, Dimas Samodra Rum, said the embassy in Beirut has accommodated about 600 Indonesian citizens.

"We will do our best to ensure that the repatriation efforts are in line with the Indonesian government�s plan," Dimas said.

The ambassador added that 156 citizens had arrived in Beirut last weekend. 70 people had been repatriated to Indonesia on Wednesday (December 26).

At least 198 citizens are scheduled to arrive in Beirut from Syria on Friday (December 28).

The coordinator for Citizens Repatriation Efforts at the embassy in Beirut, RA. Arief, said the evacuation process in Lebanon has been smooth.

He said the supply of food has been taken care of.

Arief is also the Chancellor and a Political Counsellor at the embassy in Beirut.

Political unrest is continuing in Syria as its citizens want to overthrow the incumbent President Bashar al-Assad.

The Syrian people are fighting against the people who are defending the President.

As of March 2012, the political unrest has left 9,000 people injured. (*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2012