DAMASCUS: The forces of Syria’s new authorities deployed Sunday in a Damascus suburb following deadly clashes with Druze gunmen, state media said amid tensions after Israeli demands to protect the minority group.
Jaramana, a mostly Druze and Christian suburb of the capital, saw a fatal shooting at a checkpoint on Friday, followed a day later by clashes between security forces and local gunmen tasked with protecting the area, according to a war monitor.
On Sunday local security chief Hossam Tahhan said that “our forces have begun deploying” in Jaramana to end the “chaos and illegal checkpoints by outlaw groups,” according to a statement on official news agency SANA.
He vowed to arrest those involved in Friday’s killing of a defense ministry employee at a checkpoint, saying the culprits had “refused” to hand themselves in.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said another person was killed in clashes on Saturday and nine more wounded.
Restoring and maintaining security across Syria remains one of the most pressing challenges for the new authorities after Bashar Assad’s December overthrow.
Adding to tensions, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Saturday issued a warning to the new Islamist-led authorities not “to harm the Druze,” who also live in Lebanon, Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Jaramana resident Salah Abdulrazak Al-Amed, 56, called the Israeli remarks “inflammatory and rash statements” that aimed to “polarize sections of the people.”
Issa Abdulhaq, 53, said that “Israel can declare whatever it wants... They are just talking to themselves.”
The Druze, who make up about three percent of Syria’s population, largely stayed on the sidelines of the country’s war.
Tahhan said there was “great cooperation” from Jaramana residents on bringing the suburb under the control of the new authorities.
Druze leaders in Jaramana had said in a statement that they would “withdraw protection from all offenders and outlaws,” pledging to hand over anyone proven responsible for the latest violence “to face justice.”
Jaramana was one of the first areas where residents, on the eve of Assad’s fall, toppled a statue of his father, former President Hafez Assad.