Hungarian diplomats moved from Syria to Lebanon in December leaving Czech and Romanian embassies as the only remaining European Union diplomatic outpost in Damascus, Hungary’s foreign affairs ministry told The Wall Street Journal in an e-mailed response Tuesday.
The move followed Hungary’s recognition of Syrian opposition as the official representation of Syria instead of the ruling Assad regime.
The Hungarian diplomatic service was representing the interests of Australia, Canada and the U.K., and had pledged to stay as long as it could despite heavy fighting between the Assad regime and the opposition. By leaving Syria, Hungary reciprocated a similar move by Syrian diplomats and their families based in Budapest.
The Hungarians still in Syria–the ministry estimates their number at 140–are most likely dual citizens who don’t intend to leave despite the conflict, the ministry said. These citizens can still contact the Czech or Romanian posts. The Czech Republic represents U.S. interests in Syria.
“Whoever wanted to leave the country amidst the 22-month civil war has already left,” the ministry said.
According to the United Nations, about 60,000 people died in the Syrian conflict and the number of refugees has reached 612,000 in surrounding countries. The UN expects the number of refugees to rise to 1.1 million by mid-2013 if fighting continues.