DAMASCUS (AA) - Syrian security forces have begun deploying in the densely populated suburb of Jaramana near the capital Damascus to end a state of “chaos,” an official said late Sunday

The move follows the refusal of militias to surrender suspects involved in the killing of a Ministry of Defense official.

According to the official Syrian news agency SANA, the director of the Damascus countryside Security Directorate, Lieut. Col. Hussam al-Tahhan, said that Jaramana had witnessed escalating tensions in recent days, stirred by militias refusing to relinquish their weapons.

“Our forces have begun deploying within Jaramana after those involved in the assassination of Ahmed Al-Khatib, an employee of the Ministry of Defense, refused to surrender themselves,” Tahan said. “We will work to arrest them and bring them to justice.”

He added that the operation would focus on ending the chaos and dismantling illegal checkpoints operated by armed groups involved in kidnapping, murder and armed robbery.

“Militants outside the state's control have rejected all mediation and agreements,” Tahan said.

Tensions began on Friday evening when a dispute resulted in the killing of a member of the Syrian security forces and the wounding of another by an armed militia linked to the former regime at a checkpoint.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has instructed the country's military to “prepare to defend” the Druze inhabitants of Jaramana.

But the Israeli position was met with rejection from local Syrian leaders, who deemed it an interference in the country's internal affairs.

Jaramana, located approximately 60 kilometers (37.2 miles) from the Israeli border, is a diverse area home to Druze, Christians and Sunni and Shia Muslims.

Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia on Dec. 8, ending the Baath Party’s regime, which had been in power since 1963.

The next day, Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the new Syrian administration, who was appointed president on Jan. 29, tasked Mohammed Al-Bashir with forming a government to oversee Syria’s transitional period.

After the fall of the Assad regime, Israel expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, a move that violated the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria. It also intensified airstrikes targeting Syrian military positions across the country.

Israel’s recent military advances in the Golan Heights, which it has occupied since 1967, have drawn condemnation from the UN and several Arab nations.