President Obama orders Syrian embassy to close, its diplomats leave the country

During the third anniversary of the Syrian war, President Obama ordered Damascus to close its embassy, and expelled all diplomats on Tuesday, while still keeping diplomatic relations with President Bashar Assad.

With this order, all diplomats in Houston and Troy, who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents, must leave the United States by March 31.

This order will mean that diplomats and their families will not have diplomat status in the United States.

Daniel Rubinstein, the new U.S. special envoy for Syria, said in a statement that the order was issued, “in consideration of the atrocities the Assad regime has committed against the Syrian people,” according to LA Times .

One hundred fifty thousand people have been killed in this ongoing battle.

In 2011, Syria’s ambassador left Washington, and the United States former ambassador Robert Ford left Syria in 2011 due to the fact that the United States received "credible threats against his personal safety in Syria," according to Reuters.

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