the army claims to be strengthening its deployment around Damascus and in the south of the country; panic grips the capital

Panicked residents of Damascus rushed to stock up on food and medicine on Saturday as stores closed as rebels announced they had begun to encircle the Syrian capital, reports Agence France-Presse ( AFP). In Jaramana, a suburb of Damascus, as in Daraa, a city in the south of the country, or in Hama, in the center, demonstrators tore down statues of former president Hafez Al-Assad, the father of the current leader of the State.

In the center of Damascus, paralyzed by traffic jams, residents rushed to bank ATMs to withdraw money, while a wave of panic of rare intensity gripped the city, several residents said to the AFP. Others said they tried to find food or medicine while stores closed.

Rumors that President Bashar Al-Assad, last seen in public last Sunday, had fled have added to general anxiety, despite his services’ denial. Security forces and the army were deployed in the Mezzeh district, where embassies, United Nations offices and security services are located.