U.N. staff quit Syria, warning on travel to Lebanon
August 31, 2013
Several U.N. agencies had scaled down their staffing in Syria as a precaution, a U.N. source told Reuters from Damascus on Saturday. “Most of the midlevel and nonessential foreign staff left on Thursday. The heads of the various agencies have stayed behind, together with a skeleton local staff,” the source added.
Dozens of U.N. staff have left Syria and several countries have warned citizens to stay away from neighboring Lebanon as regional tensions grow over a possible U.S.-led military strike.
U.S. President Barack Obama has said he is planning a “limited, narrow” military action to punish Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad for a poison gas attack that Washington said killed 1,429 people. Syria denies the accusation and says rebels trying to overthrow Assad were responsible.