Finland has temporarily suspended processing asylum applications from Syrian citizens, according to the country's Immigration Service Migri.
The announcement came on Monday, a day after rebel forces took control of the Syrian capital Damascus, forcing the country's dictator, Bashar al-Assad, to flee the country.
According to the director of Migri's international protection unit, Antti Lehtinen, the agency will continue to accept asylum applications from Syrians, but no decisions on whether or not to grant asylum are currently being made.
"The weekend's events were of course a big change in the situation for Syria," Lehtinen told Yle.
"This morning we decided to suspend making decisions about Syrian asylum applications. The situation has changed so much," he explained.
Migri is now looking for answers about the situation in the country, according to Lehtinen.
"We have started to gather more information, and update geographic information, so that we can resume decision-making again," he said.
Lehtinen said he was unable to estimate when Finland would resume making decisions about asylum applications from Syrians.
Other countries have also made similar temporary decisions regarding asylum applications from Syrians, including Sweden, Norway, Germany, France and Austria.
