UN staff quit Syria, warning on travel to Lebanon

AMMAN/DOHA - Reuters

A UN convoy of vehicles, carrying inspectors investigating allegations of the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons, drives through the Lebanese village of Taanayel after crossing into Lebanon from Syria on Aug. 31. AFP photo

Dozens of U.N. staff have left Syria and several countries have warned citizens to stay away from neighbouring Lebanon as regional tensions grow over a possible U.S.-led military strike.

U.S. President Barack Obama has said he is planning a "limited, narrow" military action to punish Syria's President Bashar al-Assad for a poison gas attack that Washington said killed 1,429 people.

Syria denies the accusation and says rebels trying to overthrow al-Assad were responsible. 

Several U.N. agencies had scaled down their staffing in Syria as a precaution, a U.N. source told Reuters from Damascus on Aug. 31.

A team of United Nations inspectors also crossed into Lebanon from Syria on Aug. 31 after completing their probe into a suspected chemical weapons attack near Damascus

"Most of the midlevel and nonessential foreign staff left on Aug. 29. The heads of the various agencies have stayed behind, together with a skeleton local staff," the source added.

The United Nations has about 1,000 national and international staff working on humanitarian and relief projects in Syria, spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci said on Aug. 30. She said she could not comment on reports of U.N. staff leaving the country.

UNICEF, UNHCR active in Syria

U.N. agencies active in Syria include refugee agency UNHCR, the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organisation and the World Food Programme. 

Bahrain, Kuwait, Britain and France warned their nationals not to travel to Lebanon, whose divided communities have been pulled into the increasingly sectarian conflict next door.

Austria told its citizens to contact its embassy in Lebanon before travelling there.

A senior security source in Lebanon said 14,000 people had left the country on Aug. 29 alone, mostly Europeans. 

Bahrain's foreign ministry said its advice was prompted by growing concerns of the impact of the Syrian crisis on Lebanon, news agency BNA reported late on Aug. 30. Kuwait's embassy in Lebanon told its citizens to leave the country due to "security uncertainty", news agency KUNA said.

Britain advised against all but essential travel to Lebanon on Aug. 30, citing the recent violence there and wider regional tensions. It also said there may be an increased risk of anti-Western sentiment linked to the possibility of military action. France issued similar advice on Aug. 29.