The staff members of Syria's embassy in Budapest must leave Hungary by the end of this year, Hungarian Foreign Ministry official said on Tuesday.

According to the report of Hungarian News Agency MTI, Foreign Ministry press chief Gabor Kaleta said that Hungary no longer considers the diplomats representing the Bashar al-Assad regime here as legitimate diplomatic representatives.

Hungary announced to recognize the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces as the sole legal representative of the Syrian people last Saturday and closed its embassy in Damascus after the statement.

Hungary's embassy in Damascus had ceased its activities on December 5 due to the deteriorating security situation.