Kuwait Urges Nationals to Leave Syria

Kuwait on Thursday appealed to its nationals to leave Syria and refrain from travelling there because of safety concerns amid a deadly eight-month crackdown on democracy protests.

"The foreign ministry calls on citizens currently present in Syria to leave for their own safety," it said in a statement quoted by the state-run KUNA news agency.

It also called on Kuwaitis to abandon any plans to travel to the Arab state "due to the unstable security situation."

Similar travel alerts have already been issued by Kuwait's neighbors Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The warnings follow attacks on the Damascus embassies of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the wake of the Arab League's decision to suspend Syria's membership and slap unprecedented sanctions on its regime.

In addition, Saudi Arabia said one of its citizens was killed on November 21 while visiting relatives in the restive city of Homs in central Syria.

Arab states in the Gulf have been at the forefront of calls to sanction Syria over violence the United Nations said has killed more than 3,500 people, according to its latest toll given in early November.

The brother of Syrian President Bashar Assad, several ministers and telecom magnate Rami Makhlouf are on a list of 17 senior figures to be targeted by Arab League sanctions, officials said Thursday.

Under the economic measures agreed this week by the 22-member organization, they would be banned from travelling in the region and have any assets in Arab countries frozen, if the list is confirmed at a meeting on Saturday.