WASHINGTON, March 20 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - As the war progressed from initial air strikes earlier on Thursday, March 20, the United States has closed at least 13 of its embassies and consulates around the world to the public for security reasons, State Department officials said.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the officials said the closures were not related to specific threats of terrorism or other attacks but were rather a precautionary move based in part on fears that anti-war protests could turn violent, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

U.S. embassies in Amman, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Caracas, Damascus, Kabul, Oslo, Pretoria, Nairobi, Riyadh, Almaty and Skopje were closed, the officials said.

In addition, the U.S. consulate in Johannesburg, South Africa was closed and the consulate in Durban was briefly evacuated after a bomb scare, the officials said.

In Paris, the embassy remained open but the consular section was closed to all but emergency services for U.S. citizens, the officials said.

They added the list was partial and that other missions might be shut or closed to the public in the coming hours or days.

U.S. embassies and consulates in the Middle East and Europe reported a surge in anti-war demonstrations, according to the officials.

Shortly after U.S. President George W. Bush declared war, the State Department released a global alert to U.S. citizens warning of possible retaliation.

"As a result of military action in Iraq, there is a potential for retaliatory actions to be taken against U.S. citizens and interests throughout the world," it said in a statement.

"Public demonstrations carry the potential for precipitating violence directed at American citizens, symbols associated with the United States or other U.S. and western interests," it added.

Around the world, that message was echoed by U.S. embassies which sent notices to American communities to be vigilant and step up their security precautions.

In the Middle East, large protests were held in Cairo and Damascus while in Europe there were major demonstrations several capital and major towns including Athens Berlin and Barcelona.

Other U.S. posts reporting protests were Ankara, Bern, Budapest, The Hague, Kiev, Lisbon, Madrid, Malta, Moscow, Nicosia, Prague, Rome and Vienna.

The United States is about to ask foreign governments to close Iraqi embassies around the world, AFP quoted senior U.S. officials as saying Thursday.

The officials, who refused to put their names, said the State Department would shortly instruct all U.S. embassies to ask their host nations to declare that they no longer recognize Saddam's regime and to shutter its diplomatic missions.

It was not immediately clear when the "orders" would be given, but the officials told AFP that they could be sent as early as later Thursday, depending on the progress of U.S. forces in the now-underway war on Iraq.

"This is a standard procedure in cases like this," one official claimed.

"It has to do with the de-recognition of a government that is no longer in power or is not legitimate and preparing to turn over its facilities to a new authority."

A second official said the order was on hold pending military assessments of the damage caused to Saddam's regime by the opening stages of the U.S. war.