Syria closes U.S. institutions after raid

By Marwan Makdessi

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syria decided on Tuesday to close an American school and a cultural centre in Damascus, in an apparent response to a U.S. military raid that the authorities said killed eight civilians.

The move marks a further deterioration in relations between the United States and Syria, which are already strained by U.S. charges that Damascus is failing to do enough to stop militants from entering Iraq to attack its forces.

Syria has expressed outrage at Sunday's helicopter raid on a village near the Iraqi border, calling it an act of "terrorist aggression." Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said Syria would defend itself if such an attack were repeated.

The United States has refused to publicly confirm U.S. involvement in the raid, in which residents and Syrian officials say U.S. troops landed by helicopter.

But a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the raid was believed to have killed a main al Qaeda operative who had helped smuggle foreign fighters into Iraq.

"What they are saying is unjustified. I deny it totally," Moualem told Reuters in London.

Syrian Culture Minister Riad Agha said the U.S. school and cultural centre would remain closed indefinitely.

"We were waiting for the United States to present us with superior culture, knowledge and technology but instead they presented us with the corpses of our children on the street," he told Reuters Television.