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Syria closes U.S. institutions

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Syria shut down two U.S. institutions in the wake of a deadly raid.

Damascus closed an American cultural center and school in the capital. The U.S. embassy warned Americans in Syria that it also may close.

Sunday’s helicopter raid on a village near the Iraqi border killed eight. U.S. officials will not acknowledge responsibility but are telling media off the record that the target, among the dead, was an al-Qaida operative who helped smuggle insurgents into Iraq.

Syria denied the assertion, saying the dead were civilians.

The United States has pressed Syria to prevent insurgents from crossing the border, and senior U.S. officials have said in recent months that such crossings have dropped drastically.

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