Anti-government protests in southern Syria have entered their second week, with demonstrators waving the colorful flag of the minority Druze community, burning banners of President Bashar Assad, and at one point raiding several offices of his ruling party.
In this photo released on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2023, by Suwayda24, people stage a protest as they wave the Druze flags in the southern city of Sweida, Syria. Anti-government protests have rocked south Syria for the past week. Demonstrators initially took to the streets over surging inflation but are now calling for the ouster of President Bashar Assad, echoing the beginnings of a 2011 uprising that sparked Syria's brutal civil war.
The protests have rattled the Assad government, but don't seem to pose an existential threat. They come at a time when government forces have consolidated their control over most of the country and Damascus has returned to the Arab fold and restored ties with most governments in the region. “People have reached a point where they can no longer withstand the situation," Rayan Maarouf, editor-in-chief of the local activist media collective Suwayda24, told The Associated Press. “Everything is crumbling.”
In Sweida, the response has been more restrained, with Assad apparently wary of exerting too much force against the Druze. During the years of civil war, his government presented itself as a defender of religious minorities against Islamist extremism.from Islamic State militants and Damascus-associated militias that produce and trade in illegal amphetamine pills, known as Captagon.
“If I buy two containers of milk, I’d have spent my entire month’s salary,” Damascus resident Ghaswan al-Wadi told the AP while preparing her family dinner at home after a long day at work.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Syria protests spurred by economic misery stir memories of the 2011 anti-government uprisingAnti-government protests in southern Syria have entered their second week, with demonstrators waving the colorful flag of the minority Druze community, burning banners of President Bashar Assad, and at one point raiding several offices of his ruling party
Read more »
Syria's Assad's ruling party shut by protests in rebellious Druze cityProtesters demanding an end to authoritarian rule shut the ruling Baath party headquarters in the southwestern Syrian Druze city of Sweida as protests which entered their second week showed no signs of abating, civic activists and witnesses said.
Read more »
Former Navy SEAL who took credit for killing Osama bin Laden arrested in TexasRobert J. O'Neill claims he fired the shots that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.
Read more »
US Congress members make a rare visit to opposition-held northwest SyriaThree US Congress members have made a brief visit to opposition-held northwest Syria in the first known trip to the war-torn country by American lawmakers in six years
Read more »