“Due to the rapid deterioration of the security situation in Syria and the spread of clashes and suicide attacks in Damascus, the Foreign Ministry asks that Greeks not to travel to Syria for any reason whatsoever. Greek citizens working in Syria are asked to take all possible precautions and stay in contact with the Greek Embassy in Damascus,” the Greek Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The statement comes amid intense fighting between the opposition and government forces is raging in a half-dozen areas of the Syrian capital Damascus, and a day after a bomb struck at the heart of Syria’s capital, killing at least four of President Bashar al-Assad’s top regime members, including Assad’s borther-in-law and defense minister.

The Foreign Ministry in late May summoned Syrian Ambassador Huda al-Homsi to express “disgust and the strict condemnation of Greece” at the slaughter of more than 100 people in the town of Houla, near Syria’s third-largest city of Homs and called on the regime to stop the use of violence.

Several countries including the US, Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Spain have already expelled Syrian diplomats from their capitals.

There are about 1,500 people of Greek descent in Syria, most of whom have Syrian nationality and live in Aleppo – Syria’s main trade and financial centre – and Damascus, according to the Greek Foreign Ministry. Since 1913, Damascus has had a small organised Greek community (150 members) that participates in the proceedings of the World Council of Hellenes Abroad.