Etihad Airways (EY) has suspended flights between its Abu Dhabi base and Damascus (DAM) due to the worsening security situation in Syria. EY serves DAM with a daily Airbus A320.

A major insurrection has been underway against the government of President Bashar al-Assad for 18 months. An EY spokesman in London said the airline was keeping the security situation in Syria under review for some time.

“The [suspension] decision, while not taken lightly, has been made due to the deteriorating security position in Syria,” he said. EY’s action had not been triggered by any single incident, but rather by the steady deterioration of the security position, with fighting edging closer to the Syrian capital’s airport.