Syria's embattled government said Saturday it was setting up a ring of steel around Damascus, state media reported, as rebels on a lightning advance said they were bearing down on the city.
"There is a very strong security and military cordon on the far edges of Damascus and its countryside, and no one... can penetrate this defensive line that we, the armed forces, are building," Interior Minister Mohammed al-Rahmoun told state television from the capital.
Earlier, President Bashar al-Assad's government denied that the army had withdrawn from areas around Damascus.