The victims, however, are not all Syrian. Two western journalists, one French and one American, were killed in the shelling of Homs, the centerpiece of the rebellion. The precarious security situation in Syria concerns Bucharest, since that country is host to upwards of 14,000 Romanians. This is the very reason why Romania decided not to close down its embassy in Damascus, as other European states have done. Here is Foreign Minister Cristian Diaconescu in an interview on public radio:

“Our diplomatic office does exceptional work under exceptional conditions, and many Romanian citizens in Syria have extraordinary trust in the way in which our mission intervenes, cooperates and holds dialog; these people would be practically left without essential support in a critical moment”.

Minister Diaconescu explained that the Romanian embassy in Syria managed to intervene on behalf of co-nationals, including securing repatriation for those that wished it. As for the political developments and the initiatives meant to encourage a peaceful settlement of the conflict and an end to the violence, Romania supports its European partners. Here is Diaconescu once again:

“Romania fully supports both the attitude of the European Union foreign ministry and the way in which the UN General Assembly resolution was built, initiated by a number of Arab states, which Romania has co-sponsored. It calls on the authorities in Damascus to cease all military operations, to pull out its military from cities, to do anything possible to restore a state of balance. There are measures that can be taken to stabilize the situation in terms of the security of citizens and the way in which its military forces react.”

The European Union prepares new sanctions against Syria as a result of repression. Among them are cutting off flights to that country and freezing the assets of the Syrian central bank.