Jaramana: The Damascus suburb targeted by Israel

For three months, the Israeli government has welcomed Syria's change in government with threats, air strikes and a ground invasion.

And last weekend, Benjamin Netanyahu set his sights on a location that caught many by surprise: Jaramana.

Claiming that the suburb 3km southeast of Damascus is a Druze city under threat, Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Israel Katz instructed their troops to “prepare to defend” Jaramana.

“We will not allow the extreme Islamic regime in Syria to harm the Druze. If the regime harms the Druze, it will be struck by us,” Katz said on Saturday.

The Druze, an ethno-religious minority mostly found in Lebanon, Syria and Israel, do not share a united stance towards Israel.

While Israeli Druze are known for their loyalty to the state and high enlistment in its army, their counterparts in Lebanon and Syria historically embraced Arab nationalism and mostly leftist politics, sometimes engaging in direct combat against Israel.

Despite this, Katz previously referred to the Druze in Syria as a "friendly population", in what some saw as another Israeli attempt at creating ties with minority groups in the region against its rivals.

Netanyahu and Katz's latest statements on Jaramana follow what residents told Middle East Eye were minor clashes between locals and a member of the Syrian government’s new security forces on Friday, where an officer was killed.

The disputes were resolved, with local groups allowing Syrian security forces into the area. The situation has reportedly been stable since then.

Makram Obeid, a Druze lawyer and member of Jaramana’s 16-people Civil Action Committee, told MEE the attack on the officer was “unacceptable”, and that the killer was identified and being tracked.

However, Obeid says the issue now grew “bigger than just one person having a dispute”.

The Israeli threats, which Jaramana's residents condemn, has now “unfortunately led to accusations against us and high tensions”, he said.

Jaramana throughout the years

Jaramana is a highly diverse town. While originally majority Druze, many Christians have moved into the city over the past decades.

The town also became home to Iraqi Christian and Muslim refugees, escaping the aftermath of the 2003 US-led invasion of their country.

'Whether they are Christian, Sunni or others, all support each other. We all meet and solve issues in Jaramana together'

- Makram Obeid, Druze lawyer

During the Syrian civil war, Syrians from neighbouring areas, which are mainly Sunni, sought refuge there.

With the many migrations, what was once a small town eventually became a city.

“There are 1.5 million people in this area,” Obeid said. “The Druze here do not exceed 150,000 people. Yes, this sect leads the area, and puts out these patriotic statements, but our brothers here, whether they are Christian, Sunni or others, all support each other. We all meet and solve issues in Jaramana together.”

The city is known for its bustling atmosphere and relative acceptance of social and religious differences with many churches, mosques and Druze prayer houses, making it an attractive location for people to live in.

“You walk in the streets and you will see a woman wearing the niqab, another covering her hair, another barely wearing anything, while others wear all kinds of trendy clothes," Obeid said.

While the town was sometimes accused of being controlled by forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad during the war, it largely remained neutral and often found itself at odds with the government.

Obeid said Assad's now-ousted government often tried to stir up tensions in the area, which for the most part has enjoyed peaceful coexistence.

“The former regime tried a lot to ruin this [dynamic] by empowering some people at the expense of others, supporting only certain people,” he said. “Thankfully, there was awareness in Jaramana. The [Druze] sheikhs played a big role in preserving security.”

Jaramana's residents even took to the streets to protest against Assad’s rule in recent years, demanding better living conditions.

It was hit by deadly car bombings and occasional strikes by mostly unknown assailants throughout the war.

The fall of Assad

When the Assad government fell in early December, people in Jaramana joined their compatriots in celebration.

And though the security forces that once abducted, tortured and killed civilians across the country melted away, their collapse also created some security issues.

“Since the moment the former regime fell, thefts began in Jaramana and spread quickly by some loose and undisciplined individuals,” Elias Habib, a local Greek Orthodox archimandrite and school director active in community work, told MEE. 

'Since the moment the former regime fell, thefts began in Jaramana and spread quickly by some undisciplined individuals'

- Elias Habib, Greek Orthodox archimandrite

Military bases and police stations were quickly raided, with all kinds of weaponry looted.

“A crisis cell was formed to control security independently by the youth of Jaramana, from the Druze brothers and Christian youth, in coordination with the local and civil community, and security was controlled to a large extent,” Habib said.

Jaramana was suddenly thrown into the limelight following Netanyahu’s comments.

Notably, the town had already rejected Israel's actions and statements on Syria, with residents taking to the streets last month to condemn Netanyahu’s demand for the south to be demilitarised.

“Israel, get out of Syria,” one banner read, while another said that people did not need Israel’s protection, as “Syria is my shield”.

Israel launched an invasion of Syria in the days after Assad fled to Moscow. It now occupies all of the Golan Heights, most of which it captured in 1967, as well as areas of the Daraa, Quneitra and Damscus countryside.

Jaramana's residents, however, are fearful that the Israeli focus on their town may make other Syrians wary of them.

Obeid said Netanyahu's remarks “unfortunately led to accusations against us and high tensions”.

The lawyer stressed that the Druze community had an important history as Syrians, which the Assad government tried to "erase, distort and reduce". Particularly that of national hero Sultan Pasha al-Atrash, who led popular revolutions against French colonial rule in the first half of the 20th century.

'This city is loyal to its nation, Syria, and we reject any plan to partition it. We are prepared to die for this'

- Makram Obeid, Druze lawyer, Jaramana

Habib, the archimandrite, said Netanyahu’s statements brought back “the fear of returning to a life of war, blood, destruction and the unknown” to the city’s residents.

“But this feeling did not last long because wise people, especially the sheikhs, religious men and intellectuals, became aware of the danger lurking behind these statements and called for people to go out to the squares of Jaramana and express their rejection of these statements because we are ultimately one people, one country and therefore one destiny,” Habib added.

Obeid said that Jaramana’s people will never endorse a partition of Syria and are waiting on the new government to properly form its institutions and constitution.

While the city’s security is mostly stable, weapons are unregulated and widespread. Obeid hopes post-Assad Syria will soon have a government that creates “a state with all its colours, a civil state, with freedom as its purpose”.

“This city is loyal to its nation, Syria, and we reject any plan to partition it,” Obeid added.

“We are prepared to die for this.”