Wherever you are in the world, you can access our
worldwide medical evacuation & travel assistance center with a phone call or a click 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Integrity Experience
Dependability
Need Help to Select a Travel
Insurance Plan? Contact us today. 877-211-3654 or
559-294-0316
Syria
Travel Warning
This Travel Warning was issued on April
15, 2008, to alert U.S. citizens to ongoing safety and security concerns in
Syria. American citizens are urged to thoroughly consider the risks of
travel to Syria and to take adequate precautions to ensure their safety.
This supersedes the Travel Warning for Syria issued on September 18, 2007.
A number of terrorist groups that oppose
U.S. policies have offices in Syria. Since 1979, the United States has
designated Syria a State Sponsor of Terrorism due to its support for
organizations such as Hizbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. In
addition, other extremist groups are present in Syria. These groups have
the potential to be either the targets of or perpetrators of acts of
violence. On February 12, 2008, an explosion occurred in the residential
Kafer Soseh neighborhood of Damascus, killing Imad Moughniyeh, a senior
Hizbollah operative. In 2006, the U.S. Embassy in Damascus was attacked by
terrorists armed with guns, grenades, and a car bomb. The Syrian Government
has allowed anti-U.S. demonstrations to occur; the latest was on March 3,
2008. Anti-U.S. demonstrations date back to September 2005, some of which
have turned violent and led to damage to Western embassies, including the
U.S. Embassy.
For
Information on How
to Protect Yourself, Your Family, Your
Employees, and Your Trips Abroad,
Contact our specialists today. info@worldwidemedicalplans.com 877-211-3654 or
559-294-0316
On September 12, the U.S. Embassy in Damascus was attacked by assailants
using improvised explosives, gunfire, and two vehicles laden with
explosives. However, the Embassy perimeter was not breached. This attack
underscores the presence of terrorist groups in Syria that have the ability
and intent to target American interests. The Embassy is working with the
Syrian authorities to address these threats and the security issues raised
by the attack on the Embassy.
U.S. citizens who remain in or travel to Syria despite this Travel Warning
are encouraged to register at the Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy in
Damascus, and to obtain updated information on travel and security in Syria.
Americans in Syria should exercise caution and take prudent measures to
maintain their security. These measures include being aware of their
surroundings, avoiding crowds and demonstrations, keeping a low profile,
varying times and routes for all required travel, and ensuring travel
documents are current.
U.S. consular personnel remain available to provide emergency information
and services to American citizens. The U.S. Embassy in Damascus, Syria, is
located at 2, Al-Mansour St., Abu Roumaneh. The Embassy telephone number is
(963) (11) 333-1342, fax (963) (11) 331-9678, e-mail:
acsdamascus@state.gov.
Updated information on travel and security in Syria may be obtained from the
Department of State by calling 1-888-407-4747 within the United States or,
from overseas, 1-202-501-4444. Additional details can be found in the
Department of State's Consular Information Sheet for Syria, the Worldwide
Caution Public Announcement, and the Middle East and North Africa Public
Announcement which are available on the Department's Internet website at
http://travel.state.gov.
For
Information on How
to Protect Yourself, Your Family, Your
Employees, and Your Trips Abroad,
Contact our specialists today. info@worldwidemedicalplans.com 877-211-3654 or
559-294-0316
Copyright (c) 1999-2010 by Sunburst Worldwide
Insurance Services.
Warning:
All of the pages on this site are protected
under U.S. and International copyright laws.
Reproduction by any means or for any purpose, except as specified on certain pages,
is not allowed without the express written permission of the copyright owner.
INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL NEWS BRIEFS: Please
note that we at Sunburst Worldwide Insurance Services provides the
International Travel News Briefs as a value-added service to our
international clients and visitors of this website. Our International Travel
News Briefs are updated frequently, in order to provide you with current and
reliable news and events as quickly as we can. We have no control over the
content of external websites, and links to various external news sources may
become inactive at any time. We suggest that you bookmark our website and
return frequently to check the current global news posted on our website.
July 22, 2010 MEXICO
CITY – Mexico is facing a sort of perfect storm of floods that breed
mosquitoes, prompting a big increase in the number of hemorrhagic dengue
cases, the country's top epidemiological official said Wednesday.
July 1, 2010
The Mexican government announced on Tuesday the
end of the health alert for the AH1N1 flu virus after 14 months in which
1,289 people died in this country and 72,000 cases were registered.
. .
Thailand's PM declares emergencyApril
7, 2010
Thailand's prime minister declares a state of
emergency in Bangkok amid growing anti-government protests.In a televised address, Mr Abhisit said the move - which gives
sweeping new powers to the security forces to tackle protesters - would help
restore order. It comes hours after thousands of "red-shirt" protesters
marched on parliament - forcing MPs to flee the building.
January 5, 2010
BEIJING: The Chinese capital was in the grip of
its coldest weather in 20 years Tuesday after snow storms caused chaos,
while South Korea sent out an army of civil servants and soldiers to clear
clogged roads. China's national weather centre said the mercury dipped
Tuesday to minus 15.6 degrees Celsius (four Fahrenheit) - the lowest in more
than two decades, after Beijing was hit by its heaviest snowfall in 60 years
at the weekend.
UK Did Not Pass Plane Bomber Intel To the U.S.
January5, 2010
Gordon Brown's spokesman says there is "no suggestion" the UK passed
intelligence to the US that they did not act on, regarding the alleged
Detroit plane bomber.
It follows
reports that the White House accused the Prime Minister's
spokesman of making a "mistake" when he appeared, on Monday, to confirm the
UK told the US that
Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab had links to extremists over a year
ago.
October 22, 2009
Thailand has mounted one of its biggest
security operations in recent history with more than 36,000 military and
police to prevent anti-government demonstrators from overrunning a
summit of Asian leaders, an official spokesman said Thursday.
June3, 2009 East Asia / Pacific - Australia
Australia raised the H1N1 flu alert level in the worst
hit state of Victoria on Wednesday and warned more areas would follow as
the national total topped 500.
March
3, 2009 Americas - Mexico
More than 800 federal and local police have
been assigned to improve security in and around Mexico City's
international airport after a series of armed robberies against
travelers who exchanged money there, authorities announced Monday.
4 Indonesians die of bird flu; toll climbs to 119
March
3, 2009 East Asia / Pacific -
Indonesia Four Indonesians have died of
bird flu, bringing the death toll in the country hardest hit by the
disease over the past several years to 119, an official said Tuesday.
February 26, 2009
PHOENIX - The U.S. State Department and
universities around the country are warning college students headed for
Mexico for some spring-break partying of a surge in drug-related murder and
mayhem south of the border.
February
13, 2009
A Colgan Air-operated Continental Connection flight from Newark, N.J., to
Buffalo, N.Y., went down about six miles from its destination airport
Wednesday night, killing all 49 aboard and at least one person on the
ground. An FAA spokeswoman said there was no distress call before the
Bombardier Q400 dropped off the radar. Colgan Air is a subsidiary of
Pinnacle Airlines. Continental Airlines Chairman and CEO Larry Kellner said,
"Continental extends its deepest sympathy to the family members and loved
ones of those involved in this accident."
Bloomberg (2/13)
February
6, 2009
The H5N1 strain of bird flu has been reported in more localities across
Vietnam, raising fears of a possible epidemic, official and media
reports said Friday.
Is China Covering up a New Bird Flu Epidemic?February
3, 2009
Certainly there seems to be very strong
evidence it is. There have already been eight reported cases of humans
contracting the potential deadly H5N1 virus, from which
five people have
died this year. And despite the fact that Hong Kong officials have been
finding dead birds infected with the virus washing up onto its shores in
recent days from the mainland, China has not made any official statement
concerning an outbreak among birds.
February 2, 2009 Thailandnews.net -- seeking political
asylum claiming they face persecution at home, because they fought alongside
U.S. forces during the Vietnam War. "Today we will send 190 Hmong
back to. . .
Japan rocked by major earthquake
July 16, 2007 An earthquake has struck central Japan, killing at least seven
people, flattening buildings and triggering a fire at a nuclear power plant.
Hundreds of people were injured when the 6.8-magnitude tremor struck the
Niigata area.
Feb.
26, 2007 Tokyo, Japan:In a move aimed at further
thwarting terrorist attacks, passengers on all international flights will be
prohibited from bringing aboard liquids in containers larger than 100
milliliters starting Thursday
South / Central Asia - Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan Earthquake PreparednessFeb.
13, 2007 Bishkek,Kyrgyzstan:
The
U.S. Embassy in Kyrgyzstan would like to remind American Citizens that
Kyrgyzstan is located in a seismically-active zone.
Registration Rules Stir Up Confusion
Feb. 5, 2007 Moscow, Russia:
According to a new
law that came into effect Jan. 15, foreigners are now required to hand over
their registration papers to migration officials -- via their employer or
other sponsor -- every time they leave the country and re-register upon
subsequent entry into the country.
Large swathes of greater Jakarta ground to a halt yesterday
after the heaviest rain in at least five years left many areas of the
Indonesian capital several metres underwater.
BA
running normal flight schedule
Europe - United Kingdom British Airways is running flights as
normal from Heathrow and Gatwick after averting a strike by cabin crew.
Thai airport hit by runway cracks1/29/07 Bangkok -
Thailand's transport ministry is to recommend some domestic flights be
transferred from Bangkok's new airport to the decommissioned old one.
Islamabad Marriott
Hotel Attack Pakistan -
It was reported that on January 26, 2007, at
approximately 2:37 p.m. local time, a bomb exploded at the back area
of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Nestle dairy plant in Colombia destroyed
Americas - Colombia
A pickup truck carrying 660 pounds of
explosives destroyed a dairy plant owned by
Swiss food giant Nestle SA in southern Colombia,
an attack police attributed Thursday to leftist
rebels
East Asia / Pacific -
Philippines
Philippine troops closed in Thursday on another
veteran of the Abu Sayyaf extremist group, a day
after announcing the death of a senior leader
wanted in the beheading of a California tourist.
Experience
irectory
If you have any questions, please contact our friendly
specialists.