William Hague says Britons should leave Syria

The Foreign Office is strongly advising British nationals to leave Syria owing to the "rapid deterioration" in the situation there.

Foreign Secretary William Hague told the BBC: "British nationals should leave Syria now unless they have a pressing reason to remain.

"Obviously I'm concerned that if this trouble got worse, some of them would find it wasn't easy to get out of Syria at all."

At least 100 people have died in the last two days of protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.