A significant number of Syrians gathered on Friday, September 1, for protests in Sweida, a city in the southern region controlled by the government. These demonstrations mark the largest in a series of increasingly intense protests driven by economic difficulties.
Hundreds of Syrians protested Friday in the government-held southern city of Sweida, the biggest in a wave of intensifying demonstrations spurred by economic hardship, activists and witnesses told press agencies.
The protests in Sweida province, the heartland of the country’s Druze minority, began after President Bashar al-Assad’s government ended fuel subsidies last month, dealing a heavy blow to Syrians reeling from war and a crippling economic crisis.
Footage shared by the media outlet showed men and women brandishing the multicolored Druze flag.
Syria’s security forces have a limited presence in the province.
The Druze, who made up less than three percent of Syria’s pre-war population, have largely stayed out of the conflict and Damascus has turned a blind eye to men from the minority refusing to undertake compulsory military service.
Sweida has been mostly spared from the fighting, and has only faced sporadic jihadist attacks, which were repelled.
But protests against deteriorating economic conditions have erupted sporadically in Sweida since 2020.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
