The Republic of Serbia is not going to close its diplomatic and consular missions in the crisis areas as long as there are conditions for providing consular services to its citizens.

Notwithstanding the risks involved, Serbian diplomats have not left Syria, Iraq and Libya.

A Chargé d'Affaires and five Syrian local staff work at the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Damascus. For security reasons, the non-essential diplomatic staff was relocated to Beirut in 2012. In line with the practice of many other countries, they have been following the developments in Syria from there.

The Damascus Embassy received a threat last week with the logo of the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" terrorist organization. The threat was issued against the local Syrian staff. The Embassy immediately brought this to the attention of the relevant security services.

We understand that a similar message was sent to the Syrians working for all the diplomatic missions currently active in Damascus, and the Republic of Serbia has already taken and will continue to take all precautions to safeguard the security of its Embassy staff in the Syrian capital.