Dec. 16 (UPI) — The U.S. Embassy in Syria on Monday urged all Americans in the country to leave due to what is said was an ongoing “volatile and unpredictable” security situation with armed conflict and “terrorism throughout the country.”
The embassy warned in a post on X that due to the closure of the U.S. mission in Damascus in 2012 due to the civil war, it could offer no direct assistance and that U.S. citizens should “prepare contingency plans for emergencies and be prepared to shelter in place for extended periods.”
“The U.S. government is unable to provide any routine or emergency consular services to U.S. citizens in Syria,” the embassy said. “U.S. citizens in Syria who are in need of emergency assistance to depart should contact the U.S. Embassy in the country they plan to enter.”
Americans trying to cross to Jordan are advised to use the Nabil-Jaber border crossing, which is open, and that U.S. citizens with valid, unexpired U.S. passports should be permitted to cross for limited hours.
However, U.S. citizens with expired, missing, or damaged passports must email the U.S. Embassy in Amman for assistance with gaining entry to Jordan. U.S. citizens with family members with pending immigrant visa appointments should also contact the embassy.
“If you are in Syria, be prepared to shelter in place should the situation deteriorate. Ensure you and your family have your travel documents (unexpired U.S. passport) in order and are prepared to travel,” the U.S. Embassy in Syria said.
“Review your personal security plans. Keep your cell phone charged in case of emergency. Exercise caution, monitor the news closely for breaking developments that could affect internal security, and factor updated information into your travel plans and activities.”
Americans are also advised to to draw up a contingency plan for emergencies and to review the U.S. Department of State’s Traveler’s Checklist on dealing with crises and disasters abroad.
The State Department issued a Level 4 Do Not Travel advisory for Syria on July 10, warning of grave personal risk to U.S. citizens from both terror groups and the now-collapsed regime of President Bashir Al-Assad.
The advisory warned that terror groups were active in Syria with part of the country experiencing an uptick in incidents of bombings, IEDs, and assassinations and of an ongoing, countrywide, risk to U.S. citizens and other foreign nationals of being taken hostage, cautioning the State Department’s ability to provide consular assistance to individuals who are injured or kidnapped or to the families of individuals who die in the conflict, is extremely limited.
It said U.S. citizens were also targets of abduction and wrongful detention by the Assad government, warning of its aggressive tactics to suppress dissent with protesters, activists, and political opponents routinely detained without access to legal representation and held incommunicado.
The government strongly warned private U.S. citizens against traveling to Syria to engage in armed conflict, saying the U.S. government was against it and that Americans who did so faced “extreme personal risks, including hostage-taking by armed groups, wrongful detentions, injury or death.”
“Fighting on behalf of or providing other forms of support to designated terrorist organizations, including ISIS and al-Qaeda affiliates, can constitute the provision of material support for terrorism or a foreign terrorist organization, which is a crime under U.S. law that can result in penalties including prison time and large fines,” the advisory read.
Travelers were warned that only the Assad government could issue a valid visa to enter Syria and that failure to obtain a legitimate entry visa directly from the Syrian government could result in being held in a government detention center, filthy facilities, where “widespread cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment of detainees has been documented, as well as torture and extrajudicial killings.”
On Thursday, Travis Timmerman, a missing American from Missouri, was found outside of Damascus trying to make his way out of the country on foot with no shoes after being freed from prison by rebels after they took the capital, ousting the Assad dictatorship.
Timmerman, who was held by Syrian secret police for seven months after entering Syria illegally after disappearing from Hungary in May, said he was on a pilgrimage to the country, a major center of early Christianity, when he was picked up by border guards.
He told U.S. and Middle East media that he had not been ill-treated.
The Assad regime is believed to have been behind more than 100,000 “disappeared” people, including medical and humanitarian workers, journalists, human rights activists and political opponents. Associates and relatives of these people were also targeted.