Security forces move into Damascus suburb to restore order while Israeli warnings spark local backlash.
Syria has deployed security forces in Jaramana, a suburb of Damascus, to restore order after a dispute at a checkpoint led to the killing of a Syrian security officer and the injury of another by a militia linked to Bashar al-Assad’s former regime.
The move to deploy forces late on Sunday follows the refusal of local militias to hand over suspects involved in Friday’s incident.
“Our forces have begun deploying in Jaramana after those involved in the assassination of Ahmed Al-Khatib, a Defence Ministry employee, refused to surrender,” Lieutenant Colonel Hussam al-Tahan told the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).
Al-Tahan added that the operation aims to dismantle illegal checkpoints operated by armed groups accused of kidnapping, murder and armed robbery. Calm had begun to return after negotiations between Ministry of Interior forces and local leaders, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.
Jaramana, a densely populated suburb, is predominantly inhabited by Druze and Christian communities. The Druze live mainly in Lebanon, Syria and Israel.
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Israeli military order
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday that orders had been given to the Israeli army to “prepare to defend” Jaramana’s Druze population.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Jaramana was “under attack by the forces of the Syrian regime” and Israel is “committed to our Druze brothers in Israel to do everything to prevent harm to their Druze brothers in Syria”.
Israel is occupying Syria’s Golan Heights, where a sizeable Druze community lives and which lies less than 100km (62 miles) from Jaramana.
About 18,000 Druze in Golan have rejected Israeli citizenship while about 140,000 living within the state of Israel have accepted it.
Israel has also been launching air strikes on parts of southern Syria and has been violating a demilitarised zone between the two countries.
Jaramana leaders dismissed the Israeli statements as interference.
“Let Israel say what it wants. We are part of Syria,” Jaramana resident Issa Abdul Haq, 53, told the AFP news agency.
‘Vigilance against Israel’s schemes in Syria’
In November, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel must leverage other regional minorities, particularly Kurdish and Druze communities, to advance its aims in the region.
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Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt called on Syria’s Druze community to remain “vigilant against Israel’s schemes in Syria” at a news conference in Beirut on Sunday.
Jumblatt, the former head of the Progressive Socialist Party, also cautioned against what he said were broader efforts to undermine Arab national security and said he would visit Syria to discuss developments.
“I have requested a meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa next week,” Jumblatt stated. He expressed confidence in Syrian Arab leaders from diverse backgrounds to counter what he described as Israel’s “diabolical plan”.
As Jaramana stabilises, the incident highlights the fragile balance between local governance, regional tensions and external influences in post-conflict Syria.