British citizens are being told by their government that it's time to leave Syria.
The British Foreign Office said in a statement Wednesday it had upgraded its travel advisory to a warning after weeks of demonstrations against Presidents Bashar Assad.
“In light of the deterioration in the security situation in Syria we have amended our travel advice to inform British nationals that they should consider leaving Syria by commercial means,” the spokesman said.
“At present there is relative freedom of movement," the spokesman added. "With all major roads and airports remaining open and with commercial airlines still running scheduled services with capacity available. It should therefore be possible for British nationals to leave if they choose to do so."
British citizens who do not choose to leave Syria have been warned to exercise caution and avoid large crowds and demonstrations, especially on Fridays, following prayers.
More than 200 Syrians have been killed during the political unrest that has swept the country in the past month.
According to Middle East expert Dr. Mordechai Keidar, that may be only the beginning. Speaking to Arutz Sheva's Hebrew-language news service late last month, Keidar predicted the protests will spread throughout Syria and are likely to end the president's reign.
Assad recently dismantled Syria's decades-old emergency law in response to demands by protesters who demanded political reforms as part of the region-wide “Arab Spring.”
Nevertheless, within hours after Assad's announcement on Tuesday, the country's feared political security division arrested leftist opposition leader Mahmoud Issa.
A new law was also established, requiring a permit to hold demonstrations. Meanwhile, old laws such as those that give security forces immunity from prosecution and empower military courts to try civilians remain in place.
Civil rights campaigners said that in the past two days, at least 20 pro-democracy demonstrators were shot dead by security forces in the city of Homs. Protests continue in cities across the country in defiance of the new law, including one in a Damascus suburb for the first time.
A video posted on the self-broadcast YouTube website showed Syrian demonstrators chanting, “The people want the overthrow of the regime” – the mantra of the protests that toppled the governments in Tunisia and Egypt.