Why Syrians in the southern city of Suweida are risking everything to protest

Why Syrians in the southern city of Suweida are risking everything to protest
1 / 4
People protest in the Syria's southern city of Sweida on September 1, 2023. (Suwayda24 via AFP)
Why Syrians in the southern city of Suweida are risking everything to protest
2 / 4
People wave Druze flags during a protest rally in the southern city of Sweida, Syria, on Sept. 15, 2023. (Suwayda24 via AP)
Why Syrians in the southern city of Suweida are risking everything to protest
3 / 4
Thousands of Syrians staging a protest and waving Druze flags in the southern city of Suweida on September 15, 2023. (AP).
Why Syrians in the southern city of Suweida are risking everything to protest
4 / 4
People protest in the Syria's southern city of Sweida on September 1, 2023. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 17 September 2023
Follow

Why Syrians in the southern city of Suweida are risking everything to protest

Why Syrians in the southern city of Suweida are risking everything to protest
  • Faced with a ballooning budget deficit, the government has taken painful and unpopular austerity measures
  • Most Syrians in regime-held areas were already living below poverty line prior to recent fuel subsidy cuts

LONDON: Protests in the Syrian city of Suweida have been going on more than a month now, with crowds usually gathering in the central Al-Karama Square, calling on the government in Damascus to implement economic and political reforms.

On Friday between 3,500 and 4,000 people rallied in the southern city — the largest in nearly a month of anti-regime demonstrations that have intensified as Syrians reel from the economic impact of war.

The demonstrations in Suweida and nearby Deraa — where the 2011 uprising began — started after President Bashar Assad’s regime reduced fuel subsidies and raised gasoline prices by nearly 250 percent in August.

Hyperinflation is just one of the many problems Syrians are forced to deal with in their day-to-day lives. But it is no ordinary challenge given that an estimated 90 percent of Syrian citizens in government-held areas now live below the poverty line, and half the population faces food insecurity.

Aside from dire economic conditions and poor living standards, Syrians are also frustrated with their continuing lack of basic rights.

“Undoubtedly, recent economic decisions have sparked the protests, yet society is on the brink of turmoil because the problem extends beyond mere living demands,” Ayham Azzam, head of the Suweida-based Juzour civil society group, told Arab News.




People protest in the Syria's southern city of Sweida on September 5, 2023. (AFP)

The protesters have wider demands beyond economic ones, which include “political, social and civil rights, as well as public freedoms and the release of detainees,” he added.

On Friday, the media outlet Suwayda24 published videos showing thousands of men and women chanting anti-regime slogans and waving Druze flags. Although the protests remain confined to southern cities, observers said they are reflective of political sentiments prevalent across the country.

“While large-scale public demonstrations remain relatively scarce, there is a noticeable shift in the Syrian populace’s willingness to openly and boldly voice criticism of their government and leadership,” Camille Otrakji, a Syrian Canadian analyst, told Arab News.




A handout picture released by the Suwayda 24 news site shows people protesting in the southern Syrian city of Sweida on August 25, 2023.  (Suwayda 24 handout/AFP)

In August, the Syrian pound fell to a record low on the black market of 15,500 pounds to the dollar, according to state media. The official state bank rate is 10,800 pounds to the dollar.

The government has doubled public-sector pay, increasing the minimum monthly salary to 185,940 pounds, the equivalent of about $22. However, this has done little to lessen the privations experienced by those living in government-held areas, who have had to tighten their belts.

“By lifting subsidies, the government continues its withdrawal from supporting poor and needy households and proceeds further in transferring the economic burden onto civil society, expatriates and humanitarian organizations,” Mohammad Al-Asadi, a research economist for the Syrian Center for Policy Research who is based in Germany, told Arab News.


FASTFACTS

Protests erupted in the city of Suweida after the government slashed fuel subsidies.

Economic situation deemed worse now than at the height of civil war that began in 2011.


With about 70 percent of the Syrian population requiring aid, according to UN figures, local charities are struggling to meet the growing demand.

During a recent visit to Damascus, Geir Pedersen, the UN’s special envoy for Syria, warned that the situation in the country has “become worse than it was, economically, during the height of the conflict.”

Speaking in the Syrian capital following a meeting with Faisal Mekdad, the country’s foreign minister, he added: “We cannot accept that funding for Syria is going down while the humanitarian needs are increasing.




"When people are hungry they eat their leaders, they don't eat stones", screams one placard in Arabic during a demonstration against dire living conditions in the southern Syrian city of Sweida on August 23, 2023. (Suwayda 24 handout photo via AFP)

“For Syria, without addressing the political consequences of this crisis, the deep economic crisis and humanitarian suffering will also continue.”

Huda Al-Ahmad, 50, who is the sole breadwinner in her household, lost her job months ago. She said her family have suffered for more than a year since the Damascus-based charity Al-Mabarrat stopped providing basic foodstuffs to her neighborhood.

“Coffee used to be a daily necessity for every household in Damascus. It is now a luxury,” she told Arab News. “We never thought twice before buying it but now we cannot afford an ounce a month. It would cost 5,000 Syrian pounds to make three shots of coffee.”




Syrians waiting in a queue to buy bread at a shop in Binnish, in northwestern Idlib province. The current economic situation may be worse than it was during the height of the conflict. (AFP file photo)

Meanwhile, the daily commute to Damascus from Sitt Zaynab in Rif Dimashq, where Al-Ahmad lives, costs at least 4,000 Syrian pounds.

“My daughter and I have been ill for nearly a week, unable even to afford paracetamol,” she said. “We have not bought any kind of fruit, meat or dessert for almost a year unless we give up rice and wheat for a couple of months.”

Analysts believe policies that could boost economic activity, reduce tax evasion, combat corruption and cut military expenditure are infeasible as they would require political will, engagement with civil society in the decision-making process, and representative institutions.

“These prerequisites are impossible to reach under the existing socioeconomic and political structures,” said Al-Asadi.




The protests in Sweida province, the heartland of the country's Druze minority, began after the Syrian government ended fuel subsidies in August, dealing a heavy blow to Syrians reeling from war and a crippling economic crisis. (AFP)

Instead, he added, the current policies will “deepen (the) poverty gap, as tens of thousands of poor Syrian households are expected to fall way below the overall poverty line into extreme poverty. Lifting subsidies is the easiest and fastest way to reduce the budget deficit.”

Despite the rapidly declining living standards, nongovernmental organizations and the Damascus municipality recently collaborated on giving one of the capital’s public spaces a makeover.

Photos of the revamped Sabaa Bahrat (Seven Fountains) Square, in the vicinity of the central bank, recently went viral on social media, prompting critics to comment that it was distasteful to spend money on urban beautification when so many people in the country were experiencing power cuts and shortages of food and fuel.




This photo taken on June 17, 2020, shows a view of the Sabaa Bahrat (Seven Fountains) Square roundabout in front of the Central bank of Syria in Damascus. (AFP)

“The Sabaa Bahrat roundabout will not provide bread,” Al-Hussain Al-Nayef, chairman of the Syrian National Media Alliance, said in a message posted on Facebook. “What do we gain from this cultural achievement when the impoverished citizens anticipate real change — one that addresses their concerns and lost happiness?”

The renovation was fully funded by private donors, according to reports in January, which quoted Mohammed Eyad Al-Shamaa, chairman of the Damascus Governorate Council, as rejecting claims that the renovation work cost about 5 billion Syrian pounds.

Many local social media commentators said the funds should have been used to help feed the poor and install solar energy solutions to provide street lighting in Damascus, which, like much of the country, suffers regular power shortages.




In this picture taken during a demonstration in Sweida on August 21, 2023, a placard in Arabic reads: "Bashar al-Assad achieved victory only over his people but he didn't defeat Israel." (SUWAYDA24 photo via AFP)

“Syria’s GDP (gross domestic product) and its annual budget have dwindled significantly from their pre-Arab Spring levels,” said Otrakji, the Syrian Canadian analyst. “The Syrian government currently operates with severely limited financial resources, a situation that is far from sustainable in the long run.

“In this precarious financial state, Syria is poised to seek assistance, either from willing Arab states or by deepening its reliance on Iran.”

He lamented the fact that “beyond the stark divergence in expectations regarding the elusive political solution in Syria,” the country has become “a fertile ground for regional and international conflicts.”

He added: “Regrettably, none of these conflicts show signs of nearing resolution, further entrenching Syria as a battleground for competing interests.”




This picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency on May 4, 2023, shows Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (C) attending a business forum in Damascus. (SANA handout via AFP)

Azzam, from the civil society group Juzour, is convinced that the Syrian regime is incapable of reviving the moribund economy without some progress on the political front.

“The country is in ruins — economically, socially, culturally and intellectually,” he said. “This has produced a pressing need for a fresh social agreement that marks a significant phase in which Syria is for all citizens and an integral part of the global community.

“Given the circumstances, all attempts to improve the economic situation will likely fail. And even if they do succeed, it would be a temporary, unsustainable success.”

 


Israeli troops kill Hamas militant after firebomb attack at military post in West Bank

Israeli troops kill Hamas militant after firebomb attack at military post in West Bank
Updated 30 September 2023
Follow

Israeli troops kill Hamas militant after firebomb attack at military post in West Bank

Israeli troops kill Hamas militant after firebomb attack at military post in West Bank
  • Palestinian Health Ministry says Mohammad Jibril Roummaneh died of multiple gunshot wounds
  • Hamas said Roummaneh fell as a “heroic martyr” while “defending the freedom of (his) people” 

JERUSALEM: A Palestinian activist and member of the Islamist Hamas movement was killed on Friday evening during a clash with Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank, according to multiple sources.

“Mohammad Jibril Roummaneh died as a result of serious injuries caused by bullets fired by the occupying forces in El-Bireh” northeast of Ramallah, wrote the Palestinian Ministry of Health in a statement.

It reported that a second Palestinian had been injured but gave no details.

The Israeli military said the man was a member of the team of Hamas militants who threw fire bombs at a military post near Psagot, an Israeli settlement.

“Soldiers conducting routine activity at the scene identified the suspects and responded with live fire. Two assailants were neutralized and transferred to receive medical treatment,” it said.

When questioned by AFP, an army spokeswoman would not confirm that one of the two had died, as announced by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip but has strong support in the West Bank as well, claimed the man as a member.

In a statement, Hamas described Roummaneh as one of its members who fell as a “heroic martyr” while “defending the freedom of (his) people” near the settlement of Psagot. The statement was accompanied by an image of a very young man.

Violence in the West Bank has raged for more than a year, amid stepped-up Israeli military raids, increased settler assaults on Palestinian villages, and a spate of Palestinian attacks on Israelis.

At least 242 Palestinians, 32 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian have been killed since the beginning of the year in violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

 


UN Security Council condemns Houthi attack on Bahraini troops, demands end to terrorism

UN Security Council condemns Houthi attack on Bahraini troops, demands end to terrorism
Updated 30 September 2023
Follow

UN Security Council condemns Houthi attack on Bahraini troops, demands end to terrorism

UN Security Council condemns Houthi attack on Bahraini troops, demands end to terrorism
  • Members said the drone assault, which killed three soldiers, constituted a ‘serious threat to the peace process and regional stability’
  • The attack, which took place on Yemen’s border with Saudi Arabia, represented a major escalation after more than a year of relative calm

NEW YORK CITY: The UN Security Council on Friday strongly condemned what it described as an “egregious and escalatory drone attack,” by the Houthis on Bahraini soldiers serving in the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, in which three servicemen were killed and several injured.

It constituted a “serious threat to the peace process and regional stability,” the council added.

The attack, which took place on Monday as the soldiers patrolled Saudi Arabia’s southern border with Yemen, represented a major escalation after more than a year of relative calm, at a time when momentum has been building in the peace process. The US envoy for Yemen, Tim Lenderking, had described the current situation as “the best chance for peace in Yemen since the war broke out.”

The council called on the Houthis to end “all terrorist attacks” and expressed great concern about the group’s targeting of civilian infrastructure in cities near the border. The 15-member body also called called on all sides to respect their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law.

Members said any escalation of hostilities would only increase the suffering of the Yemeni people. They reiterated the need for “decisive steps” to be taken to reach a comprehensive ceasefire agreement, as they underscored their continuing strong support for all efforts to reach a political settlement that ends a war that has been raging for more than eight years.

They also reiterated their support for the UN’s special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, and his efforts to help reach a “Yemeni-led and Yemeni-owned political settlement based on the agreed references and consistent with relevant Security Council resolutions.”


Four more officials held after Libya flood disaster

Four more officials held after Libya flood disaster
Updated 29 September 2023
Follow

Four more officials held after Libya flood disaster

Four more officials held after Libya flood disaster
  • The four additional suspects, including two members of the Derna municipal council, were arrested

BENGHAZI: Libya’s prosecutor general has ordered the arrest of four more officials, bringing to 12 the number held as part of an inquiry into this month’s flood that killed thousands.
Flooding caused by hurricane-strength Storm Daniel tore through eastern Libya on Sept. 10, leaving at least 3,893 people dead and thousands more missing.
The seaside city of Derna was the worst-hit in the flash flood, which witnesses likened to a tsunami. It burst through two dams and washed entire neighborhoods into the Mediterranean.
The four additional suspects, including two members of the Derna municipal council, were arrested for suspected “bad management of the administrative and financial missions which were incumbent upon them,” said a statement issued by the prosecutor general’s office in Tripoli, western Libya.
On Monday, the office ordered the arrest of eight officials, including Derna’s mayor who was sacked after the flood.
Libya’s prosecutor general Al-Seddik Al-Sour belongs to the internationally recognized regime in the country’s west.
A rival administration in the flood-stricken east, is backed by military leader Khalifa Haftar.
The eastern government has said it plans to host an international donors’ conference in Benghazi on Oct. 10 to focus on the reconstruction of flood-ravaged areas, but its failure to involve the Tripoli government has drawn mounting criticism from donors.
The US called on Libyans to set aside their political differences and agree on a framework to channel aid to eastern towns.

FASTFACT

The US called on Libyans to set aside their political differences and agree a framework to channel aid to eastern towns.

“We urge Libyan authorities now to form such unified structures — rather than launching separate efforts — that represent the Libyan people without delay,” US special envoy Richard Norland said in a statement on Friday.
“A proposal to hold a reconstruction conference in Benghazi on October 10 would be much more effective if it were conducted jointly and inclusively.”
Norland echoed concerns already expressed by the UN that mechanisms need to be put in place to ensure that foreign aid is spent accountably.
“Libyans need to be assured public funds are used transparently, accountably, and that assistance goes to those in need,” the US envoy said.
On Thursday during talks with the European Commission, UN envoy Abdoulaye Bathily said he had called for funds to be monitored.
“I ... emphasized the need for a joint assessment of reconstruction needs of storm-affected areas to ensure the utmost accountability in the management of reconstruction resources,” he said.
On Friday, the eastern authorities said they would begin paying compensation to people affected by the disaster, which a UN agency has said uprooted more than 43,000 people.
“Checks have been handed over to the mayors” after a relief committee received records of damage caused by the flooding, the government based in Libya’s east said in a statement.
People whose homes were destroyed would receive 100,000 dinars ($20,500) in compensation, Faraj Kaeem, the eastern administration’s deputy interior minister, said separately.
Those with partially destroyed homes would get 50,000 dinars, while those who lost furniture or household appliances would be given 20,000 dinars, he said.
The eastern administration announced on Wednesday the creation of a fund for the reconstruction of Derna.
The authorities have yet to specify how the new fund will be financed, but the eastern-based parliament has already allocated 10 billion dinars to reconstruction projects.


Women play ‘prominent’ role as hundreds protest in Syria

Women play ‘prominent’ role  as hundreds protest in Syria
Updated 29 September 2023
Follow

Women play ‘prominent’ role as hundreds protest in Syria

Women play ‘prominent’ role  as hundreds protest in Syria
  • Activist says between 2,000 and 2,500 people took part in Friday’s demonstrations in southern city

SWEIDA, Syria: Hundreds of Syrians protested on Friday in the southern city of Sweida, as women play a growing role in the anti-government demonstrations that have rocked the province for over a month, activists said.

Peaceful protests have swept Sweida province, the heartland of the country’s Druze minority, since President Bashar Assad’s regime ended fuel subsidies last month.
The move dealt a heavy blow to Syrians reeling from more than a decade of war and economic woes.
An activist and a witness said that between 2,000 and 2,500 people took part in Friday’s protests, some chanting anti-regime slogans and waving Druze flags.
“I felt a certain strength, surrounded by women and chanting against Bashar,” said Sama.
One male protester carried a large banner with a list of demands, including a transitional regime, a “new constitution” and for displaced people and detainees to return home.
Another woman protester, Sana, 50, said: “Bashar must leave. One family has dominated during my entire lifetime,” she added, also declining to provide her surname due to security concerns.
Civil war erupted in Syria after Assad’s regime crushed peaceful protests in 2011.
The war has killed more than 500,000 people and displaced millions.
Wajiha, in her 20s, said she walked half an hour in the heat to Sweida’s main square, carrying anti-regime banners for daily protests that have been going on for weeks.
Women from Sweida have been present at rallies since the conflict broke out, she said, but “the difference today is that women are not only demonstrating, they are planning and organizing the movement.”
This includes coordinating chants, making banners, and communicating with those holding protests in nearby towns, she said.
Sweida has been mostly spared from fighting during the conflict, and has faced only a few extremist attacks, which were repelled.
Protests against deteriorating economic conditions have erupted sporadically in the province in recent years.
Syrian security services have a limited presence in Sweida, and Damascus has turned a blind eye to Druze men refusing to undertake compulsory military service.
Since last month, smaller protests have also taken place in neighboring Daraa province, the cradle of Syria’s 2011 uprising.
Followers of an offshoot of Shiite Islam, the Druze made up less than three percent of Syria’s pre-war population. They have largely kept out of the conflict.
The Assad family has been in power for more than half a century, ever since Bashar Assad’s father Hafez seized power in a 1970 coup.


Joint security force occupies Lebanon refugee camp

Joint security force occupies Lebanon refugee camp
Updated 29 September 2023
Follow

Joint security force occupies Lebanon refugee camp

Joint security force occupies Lebanon refugee camp
  • Gunmen withdraw leaving unexploded grenades, spent ammunition on school playgrounds of Ain Al-Hilweh
  • School walls riddled with holes from bullet, rocket fire during clashes between rival factions

BEIRUT: A Palestinian joint security force on Friday took control of a school complex in Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp after gunmen who had occupied the site since late July withdrew.
The deployment was part of the second phase of a cease-fire agreement between the Fatah movement and extremist groups in mid-September.
Clashes between the rival Lebanese factions in late July left more than 30 people dead.
The force entered the UNRWA school complex, which became a battleground between the rival groups, as gunmen vacated the site.
The deployment raises hopes that the truce will hold and further ease tensions inside Ain Al-Hilweh, the largest of 12 Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.
More than 75,000 refugees, including Palestinians who fled the Yarmouk camp in Syria, are housed in Ain Al-Hilweh in southern Lebanon.
The joint force consists of officers and military personnel from various Palestinian factions in the camp, including Hamas.
However, the security force and UNRWA now face a major clean-up, with the extent of damage becoming evident after the militants’ withdrawal from the school complex.
Unexploded grenades were found on the site and empty bullet casings littered the school playgrounds.
Rockets used in the clashes have left gaping holes in school walls.
The joint security force was divided into two groups. One entered the schools complex from the Al-Barakasat area, controlled by the Fatah movement, while the other entered from the Al-Tawarek-Al-Taameer area, controlled by the extremist groups, most prominently Al-Shabab Al-Muslim.
Representatives of the Palestinian Joint Action Committee in the Sidon area accompanied the force.
Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Al-Ajouri, who was commanding the force, gave the signal for the deployment, while Maj. Gen. Subhi Abu Arab, Palestinian national security commander, accompanied the operation.
UNRWA, which is monitoring the cease-fire, postponed the start of the new academic year in the Ain Al-Hilweh camp until further notice.
Schools in the rest of the region will resume teaching on Oct. 2.
More than 11,000 students attend schools in the camp, with the damaged school complex providing education to 5,900 students.
Dorothee Klaus, director of UNRWA affairs in Lebanon, said the safety of schools in the vicinity of Ain Al-Hilweh “is our top priority, and we are striving in every possible way to achieve that as soon as conditions permit.”
The agency is working to find alternatives so that children from the camp and surrounding areas can return to school as soon as possible, she said.
A preparatory meeting ahead of Friday’s deployment took place in the Sidon office of Sheikh Maher Hammoud, president of the International Union of Resistance Scholars, who is believed to be close to Hezbollah.
Representatives of Hamas and the Amal movement, an ally of Hezbollah, also attended.
Discussions took place on the possible handing over of eight suspects wanted for the assassination of Fatah leader Mohammed Al-Armoushi.
Representatives of Hamas and the Amal movement, an ally of Hezbollah, also attended.
As part of the cease-fire deal, the joint security force will prepare the way for those displaced by the fighting to return to their homes.
The final phase of the agreement involves the handover of wanted suspects.
A source dismissed rumors on social media on Thursday night that some of the wanted suspects had left the camp.
“There is an agreement that has been reached and it is fundamental, and the essential point is handing over wanted people,” the source said.
Hamas representative Ahmed Abdel Hadi described Friday’s deployment as “a step in the right direction,” adding that it stemmed from Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri’s initiatives to end the clashes.
Berri joined Palestine Liberation Organization leader Azzam Al-Ahmad and Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk in pushing for a cease-fire.