Syria’s transitional regime has deployed security forces to the city of Jaramana, located southeast of Damascus, the country’s official SANA news agency reported on March 3.
According to SANA, the move follows the killing of a defense ministry official—identified as Ahmad al-Khatib—who was shot by unidentified gunmen near Jaramana.
Forces deployed in the area are working to “apprehend those individuals [responsible for the killing] and bring them to justice,” Lt.-Col. Hussam Tahhan, a local security official, was quoted as saying by SANA.
“Armed individuals outside state authority rejected all mediations and agreements,” Tahhan said.
He added that security forces sought to “end the state of chaos and illegal checkpoints set up by outlaw groups who have resorted to kidnapping, killing, and armed robbery.”
Located roughly two miles southeast of Damascus, Jaramana’s population is composed largely of Druze, a minority religious sect, and Christians.
“No Syrian geographical area will remain outside the control of state institutions,” Tahhan said, according to SANA.
“We have witnessed significant cooperation from the residents of the city of Jaramana in this matter.”
In December 2024, Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad was ousted from power—and the Syrian national army disintegrated—in the face of a rebel offensive backed by neighboring Turkey.
The offensive was led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a U.S.-designated terrorist group whose leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, now serves as Syria’s interim leader.
On March 3, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported that calm had since been restored in Jaramana following talks between local community leaders and officials from Syria’s interior ministry.
According to Anadolu, the unrest began on Feb. 28 when al-Khatib, an official of Syria’s HTS-led defense ministry, was killed at a checkpoint by unidentified gunmen.
The news agency also reported—citing Musab al-Shami, a local security official—that a police station near Jaramana had also come under attack.
Al-Shami said the crisis was later diffused following consultations between security officials and local community leaders.
“In the coming days, our cooperation with the people of Jaramana will strengthen,” he was quoted as saying.
Ambiguous Circumstances
Circumstances surrounding the recent unrest remain unclear.On March 1, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported “several incidents of security disorder” in and around Jaramana, which, it said, had led to a number of deaths and injuries.
“These actions have spurred the [Syrian] general security service to launch a large-scale security campaign in the city,” the UK-based rights watchdog said.
According to SOHR, gunmen at one point entered Jaramana, “where they clashed with armed members of the local Druze community.”
One Druze fighter was killed in the melee, and nine other people were injured, it said.
SOHR also reported that unidentified gunmen had opened fire on a civilian vehicle in the area, injuring two Druze community members.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, meanwhile, recently ordered Israel’s military to “prepare to defend” Syria’s Druze community, according to The Times of Israel.
In a March 1 statement, Katz’s office claimed that Jaramana was “under attack by the forces of the Syrian regime.”
“We will not allow the extreme Islamic regime in Syria to harm the Druze,” the statement reads. “If the regime harms the Druze, it will be struck by us.”
Jaramana is approximately 35 miles from Israel’s border.
Shortly after the fall of the Assad regime, Israeli forces entered Syrian territory in the Golan Heights region, where much of Syria’s Druze community is concentrated.
Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Jewish state would not allow Syrian forces to “enter the area south of Damascus.”
His government, meanwhile, has also made clear that Israeli forces now occupying Syrian territory would remain in the area indefinitely.
