Jakarta (ANTARA News) - About 129 Indonesians are being repatriated from Syria amid rising tension happening in the country, a press statement from the Indonesian foreign affairs ministry said here on Tuesday.

The 129 Indonesians will be leaving Damascus to Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday (Feb 26) before going back to Jakarta. This is the fifth repatriation having been conducted by the Indonesian government since February 2013.

Indonesian Ambassador to Syria Wahib Abdul Jawad said officers at the embassy are trying their best to repatriate more Indonesians home.

About 12,000 Indonesians, mostly migrant workers, have been repatriated from Damascus since conflict erupt there in 2011. In 2013, about 1,057 more people were sent back to Indonesia.

Up till now 172 Indonesians are still resided at the embassy in Damascus.

The Syrian uprising, by those originally calling for modest reforms, began in February 2011. Since then, however, armed conflicts between security forces and opposition groups seeking to topple President Bashar al-Assad have escalated.

A study commissioned by UN human rights commissioner Navi Pillay collated data from seven different sources and concluded that there had been 59,648 deaths as of November 2012, the BBC reported on January 2, 2013.

Pillay said the number of deaths has since risen to above 60,000 and described the bloodshed as "truly shocking".

(A051/F001)

Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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