PUTRAJAYA, Aug 19 — The Foreign Ministry has ordered the temporary closure of the Malaysian Embassy in Syria due to the escalating conflict in that country, said its Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman.

He said however, the embassy in Damascus could not be shut down completely, as there were still eight Malaysian students in Syria who were refusing to return home.

There are 130 Malaysian students registered with the embassy and 107 of them had been evacuated by the government, with seven having returned on their own and eight more on holiday.

"For the moment, we cannot shut down the embassy, as our officers there need to manage the Malaysians," he told reporters at the Prime Minister's Open House with Cabinet Ministers at Seri Perdana here today. — Bernama