In late April, the embassy said, an elderly foreign woman was mugged as
she exited her vehicle near her home in the Abu Roumaneh district of
Damascus. The mugger, described as a well-dressed young man with a beard,
punched the victim in the face and escaped with her purse.
A week earlier, another elderly foreigner was accosted and robbed in Abu
Roumaneh. The robber punched the woman in the face and she sustained minor
injuries.
"It is not known whether the perpetrator was also responsible for the
other mugging reported above," the embassy said.
On May 11, an American woman was groped by teenagers as she walked near
an Internet cafe in Damascus. Four days later, another expatriate woman was
accosted by a man as she walked in the Malki district.
"Compared with similar-size cities around the world — including within
the United States — Damascus remains a relatively low-crime environment,"
the embassy said.
"The two very different types of incidents reported above,
however, are an important reminder that no large city is "crime free" and
that even Damascus is subject to fluctuations in the local crime rate."
