UK withdraws diplomats from Syria, closes embassy

Britain announced today that the UK is closing its embassy in Syria and withdrawing British diplomats. It has assured, however, Britain is not breaking diplomatic ties with Damascus.

"We now judge that the deterioration of the security situation in Damascus puts our embassy staff and premises at risk, and have taken the decision to withdraw staff accordingly. Our ambassador and diplomatic staff left Syria on 29 February and will return to the UK shortly," Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement.

Meanwhile, a Foreign Office spokesman said Britain had not broken diplomatic ties with Syria. "The (Syrian) embassy in London will remain open so we can have a channel of communication to the Syrian regime," he said.

“My decision to withdraw staff from the British embassy in Damascus in no way reduces the UK’s commitment to active diplomacy to maintain pressure on the Assad regime to end the violence,” stressed Hague.

“We will continue to work closely with other nations to co-ordinate diplomatic and economic pressure on the Syrian regime through the Friends of Syria group and the European Union, building on the new EU sanctions agreed on 27 February which will restrict further the regime’s sources of revenue,” Hague added.