Indonesia starts evacuating citizens from Syria

Indonesia has started evacuating its citizens in Syria due to the current political crisis in the Middle Eastern country, Indonesian ambassador to Lebanon Dimas Samodra Rum has said Thursday. "According to information from the embassy in Damascus, evacuation of citizens from Syria to Indonesia has been ongoing," he said to ANTARA News in Cairo seeking information about latest developments in Syria. ANTARA News had contacted the ambassador in Lebanon because it was difficult to contact the ambassador in Damascus. Lebanon is Syria`s neighbor in the south. The head of information, social and culture of the Indonesian embassy in Ankara, Turkey, Syria`s neighbor in the north, said he had received no information from the Indonesian embassy in Damascus about the evacuation. Dimas Samodra said evacuation was done twice a month to Indonesia with the number of evacuees varying from one evacuation to another. He did not know how many Indonesian citizens were still left in Syria but some students had been among the evacuees. He said although some countries had shut down their embassies in Syria the Indonesian embassy there was still conducting activities. Last February the embassy asked all Indonesian citizens in Syria to register themselves with the embassy with regard to the evacuation plan. "The Indonesian government plans to return Indonesian citizens working or studying in Syria. In connection with it all citizens wishing to return are requested to register themselves with the embassy," it said in the statement.