The United States announced Monday that it has closed its embassy in Syria and pulled American diplomats out of the country due to the worsening security situation there. “We, along with several other diplomatic missions, conveyed our security concerns to the Syrian government, but the regime failed to respond adequately,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement. The U.S. decision to close its embassy comes two days after Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution which would have endorsed an Arab League plan calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to relinquish power. -- SPA
