No Poles have asked for evacuation from Syria - MFA
Poland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said that it had not received any reports of Poles in Syria who would need evacuation amid uncertain security situation in the country following a rebellion by anti-regime militants.
The rebels announced last night that the 24-year authoritarian rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had been overthrown.
Pawel Wronski, MFA's spokesman told PAP on Sunday that the foreign ministry in cooperation with the Polish diplomatic mission and allies, was monitoring the situation in Syria.
"The situation is dynamic, but our mission has not received any reports from Poles who would need help or evacuation," he said.
Later that day, Wronski told a press briefing that the MFA was currently in contact with about 130 Polish citizens remaining in Syria.
"Their status varies, they are often mixed families. The majority of Polish citizens have left because of the gruesome war that has been going on in this country for many years," he said.
Wronski declared that if there was any need for humanitarian aid, "the MFA will act," just as it helped Poles return to their homeland in the past.
He also reiterated a warning issued by the Polish embassy temporarily based in Beirut on Saturday, which had urged Polish citizens staying Syria to leave immediately and not to enter Syrian territory due to the uncertainty of the situation in the country.
Wronski told PAP that the development of events in Syria had taken a "rather surprising turn". Given that the regime supported by Russia seems to be "falling apart on its own", and that, reportedly, Assad has left Damascus, the situation "paradoxically" may be heading "to some form of calming down", he said.
At a later press briefing he added that apparently the situation surprised Russian President Vladimir Putin and Assad "the most."
"The Syrian authorities were supported by Putin, there was a war there, which was a tactical preparation for what happened later in Ukraine. If now the regime, so strongly supported by the air force, land troops, thousands of specialists, is falling, then it must be a surprise for Moscow", Wronski argued.
Asked whether the recent events in Syria could cause an influx of refugees to Europe, including Poland, he replied that he did not know, but "perhaps what is happening gives hope for an end to the war in Syria."
Earlier on Sunday, the Minister of Interior and Administration, coordinator of special services Tomasz Siemoniak took to social media to announce that Polish intelligence services, along with NATO and EU partners, were constantly monitoring the events in Syria.
"The Polish intelligence services, the Foreign Intelligence Agency and the Military Intelligence Service, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defence as well as NATO allies and partners from the European Union are closely observing and analysing the events in Syria from the point of view of the interests of Poland and Polish citizens staying in the Middle East," he wrote on the X platform.
The insurgents, led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), began their lightning advance against the forces of Assad's regime on November 27 and since have seized large parts of territory, including Syria’s second-largest city Aleppo.
Early on Sunday, rebel forces claimed they had captured the Syrian capital of Damascus with virtually no resistance from government troops.
Assad, who had crushed all forms of dissent and imprisoned thousands of people, reportedly fled Damascus on Sunday for an unknown destination. (PAP)
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