A man walks near a Syrian flag poster in Damascus, Dec. 5, 2024. (Credit: Firas Makdesi/Reuters)
Syria's Interior Minister said on Saturday that military and security forces had set up a “very solid” cordon around Damascus, while rebel fighters said they had begun to encircle the capital.
“There is a very strong security and military cordon on the far outskirts of Damascus and its countryside, and no one (...) can penetrate this line of defense that we, the armed forces, are erecting,” Interior Minister Mohammed al-Rahmoun told state television.
The Syrian army said it was reinforcing its defense lines around Damascus and in the south of the country on Saturday, as panic spread in the capital after rebel claims of approaching it.
“Our units are reinforcing their lines in the Damascus countryside and in the south of the country,” said a spokesperson for the army's general command in a televised statement. He also said the army was launching operations against rebels in “the countryside of Hama and Homs and in the northern countryside of the southern city of Deraa.”