ADANA, Turkey (AP) — The U.S ambassador to the United Nations is in Turkey at the ribbon-cutting for a new U.S.-funded school, and Nikki Haley says the American people are thankful the U.S. ally is taking in so many Syrian refugees.

The school in the southern Turkish city of Adana is serving children who've fled the Syrian civil war.

The middle school is funded by the U.S. State Department, it was built by UNICEF and it's run by the Turkish government. It will serve some of the half-million Syrian refugee children enrolled in schools in Turkey.

Using double shifts, the new school will serve about 1,400 students — age 10 to 14 — in two dozen classrooms.

Security was tight for the ribbon-cutting ceremony, with snipers posted on rooftops overlooking the school.