WASHINGTON -- The U.S. State Department shuttered its embassy in Syria and pulled out its remaining staff Monday after the government refused to address its security concerns, senior State Department officials tell CNN.
The officials said 17 employees, including Ambassador Robert Ford, left the country. Two employees flew out of Syria last week by commercial air, with the rest of them, including Ford, traveling by convoy Monday morning to Jordan. Most of the staff were evacuated earlier in the year, and the diplomatic team was further reduced in December.
The Syrians were notified about the decision to pull the staff and shutter the embassy after the employees were out of the country, the officials said.
The officials said the deterioration of the situation in the country made it impossible for the embassy to continue operations and for the staff to remain.
"The government is getting stretched beyond its ability to control the various elements of violence in the country," one senior official said.
The officials said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the final call after the State Department's management and security staff presented her with their concerns and recommendations.
"This is a decision we never take likely. Our embassies are a very important part of our diplomacy around the world."
Heightened concerns about security come in the wake of last month's deadly car bombings at the offices of two Syrian security branches in Damascus, which officials believe bear the hallmarks of al Qaeda.
While the U.S. has no hard proof al Qaeda was responsible and has no specific intelligence the group is planning an attack against the embassy, one senior official said the embassy was "a significant potential target."
"I'm more concerned about a suicide bombing than I am a mob at the embassy," one senior official told CNN, noting that the embassy has been a previous target of extremist groups. "There is a shadow of instability across the country."
Poland will serve as the U.S. protecting power in Syria, just as Turkey protected U.S. interests in Libya when the embassy there was closed. Switzerland serves as protecting power for the United States in Iran.
The Polish Embassy in Damascus will assist US citizens in Syria who face trouble, but the State Department does not think many American citizens remain in the country, given that the department issued numerous travel warnings over the past several months strongly urging Americans to leave the country. The officials said most remaining Americans in Syria are believed to be dual nationals who live there.
Last month, the State Department had said it was considering closing the embassy, issuing a statement saying "while no decision has been made, we have serious concerns about the deteriorating security situation in Damascus, including the recent spate of car bombs, and about the safety and security of embassy personnel.
"We have requested that the government of Syria take additional security measures to protect our embassy, and the Syrian government is considering that request," the State Department said at the time. "We have also advised the Syrian government that unless concrete steps are taken in the coming days we may have no choice but to close the mission."
The U.S. Embassy is located right off a busy street in Damascus. Officials said the United States and countries with similar concerns asked the Syrian authorities to restrict traffic and add barriers around the embassies, steps the government had taken around government facilities, but they refused. Officials said they expected other governments to follow suit and close their embassies.
In October, the United States pulled Ambassador Ford after he was attacked by what a U.S. official described as an "armed mob" in Damascus. About 100 pro-government protesters tried to storm a meeting, not in the embassy, between Ford and opposition leader Hassan Abdul Azim, trapping Ford and others for more than an hour. Later, his convoy was attacked.
Ford, who has been outspoken against the Syrian government's use of violence against protesters, is seen by Syrian government supporters as an activist more than a diplomat. He returned to Syria in December.
The move does not mean the U.S. is breaking diplomatic ties with Damascus. Although contacts between the two governments are minimal, formal relations will remain intact. Washington did not break ties with Tripoli during the NATO campaign against Moammar Gadhafi. Closing the embassy means only that the U.S. is pulling its staff and suspending operations in the country.
Officials said Ford and his staff would continue work from the State Department's Washington headquarters, just as Ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz and his staff did when the U.S. temporarily closed the embassy in Tripoli.
CNN