Slovakia 'temporarily' closes Syrian embassy

Slovakia's foreign ministry said Wednesday it would temporarily close its embassy in Syria because of deteriorating security conditions in the country. "The embassy in Damascus will be temporarily closed as of March 29 and its employees withdrawn from the country," the ministry said in a press release. The ministry also warned Slovak citizens against visiting Syria and called on those already visiting to leave the country immediately. Fighting broke out in Damascus on Tuesday while clashes elsewhere in the country killed at least 30 people -- all but two of them civilians -- the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The regime of President Bashar Assad has ignored the chorus of international condemnation against a brutal government crackdown to crush a year-long uprising, in which rights activists say more than 9,100 people have died.