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| Middle East |
| Cancel trips to Syria, British Foreign Office warns |
| 2003-03-04 |
| Britons were warned by the Foreign Office to cancel all non-essential trips to Syria yesterday. "Drat, Alice, I was so looking forward to our trip to Damascus!" "It's a crushing disappointment, Nigel, but perhaps we can tour the Bekaa Valley instead?" "Oh, you know how it is with the travel agencies. It will cost us a fortune in bloody re-booking fees!" Those already in Syria were warned to be vigilant because of increasing regional tension. The "voluntary departure" has been authorised of all non-essential diplomatic staff and their dependants. There have been no recent terrorist attacks in Syria but a number of terrorist organisations are believed to operate from the capital, Damascus. Closely watched by the Eye-Doctor-in-Charge. The warning on the Foreign Office website reads: "Because of the increasing regional tension, we advise you not to make any non-essential travel, including holiday travel (but excluding airline passengers in transit, provided they do not break their journey), to Syria, and, if already in Syria, to maintain a high level of vigilance and to consider whether your presence and that of your dependants is essential." "In other words, take a bleedin' hint!" Last month, the Foreign Office upgraded its travel warnings on the Middle East, advising Britons in Iraq to leave and warning against travelling to Kuwait, Israel and the Palestinian territories. Personally I wouldn't go east of oh, Rome. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #8 Well get the bastards outta there and I'll go over. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-03-04 22:07:55 |
| #7 Only that Roman ruins look way better than ruins of modern Arab brutalist concrete architecture. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-03-04 17:58:20 |
| #6 We need to change out the hysterical regimes so we can see the historical sites. Another reason for regime change. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-03-04 17:51:01 |
| #5 TGA, You've probably spelled out reason #2 for taking out the thugocracies. There's all that cool stuff to see! |
| Posted by: Dreadnought 2003-03-04 16:37:06 |
| #4 I know Damascus. It's one of the most interesting cities in the Middle East. Certainly the most fascinating bazaar I have ever seen. The Omayyad mosque is absolutely beautiful. Then you have the fantastically well preserved Roman ruins of Palmyra in the desert, the more than impressive crusader castle Krak des Chevaliers, the old city Aleppo and lots of other interesting sites. Syrians are actually very friendly people and a lot less sticky than the Moroccans or Tunisians. Combine the trip with Lebanon (Baalbek Ruins, Beirut etc.) and Jordan ("Rock city" of Petra, bizarre desert scenery of Wadi Rum where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed). All these places are probably safer than the "Big Orange (Alerted)" New York or London. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-03-04 15:35:13 |
| #3 Actually I bet damascus is one of the coolest places to go to. That was the site of one of the caliphates and so there's probably tons of historical sites, beautiful mosques, monuments, gardens, etc. Hopefully some day sanity will be restored in countries like Iraq, Iran, Syria and Lebanon and then we westerners can tour those countries, spend our $ there, shoot the shit with the locals, and everybody is better off. But for now, an American or Brit in Syria would not be safe because of the presence of so many jihadis and because of the dictator bashar assad. |
| Posted by: Abu Hamza 2003-03-04 15:15:48 |
| #2 Syria. Number One on my list of dream destinations. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-03-04 10:18:06 |
| #1 Oh, I dunno. How about Prague or Sofia? |
| Posted by: Ed 2003-03-04 01:25:33 |