A Syrian official confirmed that there is no evidence of gold in the northern countryside of Daraa in the southern country. Wael al-Zamel, director of the Sanameen area, said in a statement published by Daraa governorate on Saturday-Sunday: “The Sanameen area administration is following up on what is being circulated on social media about the discovery of a cave containing gold during the digging of a basement of one of the houses in the city of Al-Hara”. He explained that “what has appeared so far is a small opening during excavation works, and its nature is still unknown, and no sightings or evidence of the presence of gold at the site have been recorded”. He confirmed that security forces have taken measures to deploy in the area to prevent cases of crowding after the number of citizens increased around the excavation site, in order to ensure their safety, pointing to the waiting of a specialized team from the Directorate of Antiquities to conduct a technical survey and accurately determine the nature of the opening. Al-Zamel called on citizens not to be dragged by rumors, calling on the media to verify accuracy and credibility in news reporting, warning that continuing gatherings could expose people's lives to the danger of crowding and congestion. Syrian TV quoted local sources as saying that large numbers of residents have been gathering around the excavation site for hours, while internal security forces are facing difficulties in dispersing the gatherings and were forced to fire warning shots, amid reports of an injury”, indicating that security forces imposed a curfew in the city of Al-Hara. The local news network “Daraa 24” noted that quantities of gold had been found in the same area in previous years, and the overthrown regime had controlled it at the time. Rumors spread last August about the discovery of gold in the village of Al-Buhmud in Raqqa province, northeastern Syria, before it became clear that the discovered metal is pyrite, popularly known as “fool's gold”.