Poland embassy evacuates diplomats on intensifying Syrian conflict

Added by Gary Dunn on July 27, 2012

Poland’s Foreign Minister, Radek Sikorski, on Friday said Poland has temporarily suspended activity at its embassy in Damascus and all Polish diplomats have left Syria.

“Activities at the embassy have been suspended until further notice. The decision was taken because of the dramatically intensifying internal crisis in Syria, resulting in the deterioration of the security situation and the inability to continue performing tasks assigned tio Polish diplomas,” commented Sikorski during a news conference.

Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad regime are reported to have renewed their assault on the northern city of Aleppo on Friday.

The US state department said Syrian government forces may be preparing to carry out a massacre, while a pro-government Syrian daily newspaper, al-Watan, described the military operation in Aleppo as the “mother of all battles”.

al-Watan noted the battle may be protracted, since, according to a source close to the matter, there are 12,000 militants in the area, with the majority from Libya, Tunisia, Egypt and Afghanistan.