DAMASCUS: An American school in Damascus closed its doors and told students to go home yesterday after the Syrian government ordered it shut down in response to a deadly US cross-border raid near the Iraqi border. A voice message on the school’s answering machine said the Damascus Community School was closed to comply with the government’s decision. Students and teachers were seen leaving the school grounds in the afternoon.
The students came to school as usual yesterday but said they were told by the school’s administration to leave. No reason was immediately given. One student said administrators told him and his classmates to pack up their books and leave the building immediately.
An official at the US Embassy in Damascus confirmed that the school was closing to comply with the Syrian government’s demand it shut its doors after an Oct. 26 US military raid that Damascus said killed eight people.
One foreign teacher who works at the school said Syrian authorities informed the school’s foreign teachers to leave the country within a week.
