JOBAR, Syria — In this Damascus suburb, the handful of remaining Jews in Syria can again make pilgrimages to one of the world’s oldest synagogues where people from throughout the region once came to pray.

Syria was once home to one of the world’s largest Jewish communities, with numbers shrinking dramatically after Israel was created in 1948.

Syria’s embassy in Lebanon has suspended consular services a day after two relatives of deposed Syrian President Bashar Assad were arrested at the Beirut airport with allegedly forged passports.

The Syrian foreign ministry ordered the suspension because two of the deposed president's relatives allegedly had passports forged at the embassy.