dying. the u.n. estimates well more than 5,400 people have been killed since many. most of them peaceful protesters rising up against four decades of assad's family dictatorship and syria shares borders with iraq, lebanon, and israel today, and it is also a major ally of iran. and our chief fox correspondent jonathan hunt is on it. how scientific is the, how scientific is the study of how bad the crackdown is and how significant, at the same time, is the closing of the u.s. embassy? >>jonathan: the closing of the embassy is a symbolic move by the united states, not a breaking of diplomatic relations. and that is important distinction. it is a suspension of the u.s. diplomatic presence in damascus, what the u.s. administration hopes is it sends another signal to the syrian people that the international community is on their side and as president obama said in an interview with