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Protests Continue in Syria’s Sweida, Calls for Decentralization Rise

Roads are blocked in Sweida, Syria, on Thursday (Sweida 24 site - Reuters)
Roads are blocked in Sweida, Syria, on Thursday (Sweida 24 site - Reuters)
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Protests Continue in Syria’s Sweida, Calls for Decentralization Rise

Roads are blocked in Sweida, Syria, on Thursday (Sweida 24 site - Reuters)
Roads are blocked in Sweida, Syria, on Thursday (Sweida 24 site - Reuters)

Popular protests continued on Saturday in the province of Sweida, southern Syria, against the deteriorating living conditions in the country, especially in light of the recent increase in fuel prices.

Sources reported that demonstrators blocked the Damascus-Sweida road near the village of Al-Mutonah for an hour before reopening it.

Amid these developments, there were calls for a general strike on Sunday in response to what protestors described as “rampant corruption and favoritism in government circles” and to protest the declining living standards.

In the demonstrations over the past days, some protesters have held signs advocating for decentralization, while others demanded the departure of those who fail to offer solutions to the people’s problems.

Protests have emerged as the Syrian pound continues its decline. On Friday, it dropped to the 16,000-pound mark against the US dollar, only to slide to 14,600 pounds per dollar within hours.

The pricing of goods in markets is set based on the anticipated highest exchange rate of 16,500 pounds to safeguard against potential losses amid fluctuating exchange rates and rising inflation.

International estimates suggest that over 95% of Syrians now live below the poverty line.

Protests had erupted in Sweida on Wednesday in response to the government’s decision to raise fuel prices, reduce subsidies and increase public sector wages by 100%.

However, even with this raise, the salary now equates to just $20 – an amount that barely covers two days’ expenses for an individual, especially amidst the sudden surge in inflation that started Wednesday.

This economic instability resulted in significant market disruptions and led to transportation strikes by private bus operators in most Syrian provinces

Various regions in Daraa witnessed protests condemning the living conditions and opposing recent government decisions.

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Palestinians Receptive to Lebanon’s Call to Limit Possession of Weapons in Refugee Camps

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
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Palestinians Receptive to Lebanon’s Call to Limit Possession of Weapons in Refugee Camps

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)

Lebanon has started to exert serious efforts to restrict the possession of weapons inside Palestinian refugee camps in the country in line with President Joseph Aoun’s inaugural speech.

The president had demanded that the possession of weapons in the country and the camps be limited to the state.

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee met at the government headquarters in Beirut three days ago to discuss the issue.

All Palestinian factions attended the meeting, and the gatherers agreed to “completely” resolve the Palestinian possession of arms outside the camps. They also agreed to outline how to restrict weapons inside the camps in line with the president’s speech.

The Lebanese state has yet to come up with the mechanism to confiscate the weapons inside the camps.

A Lebanese security source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the arms will be tackled through a political approach drawn up by the government. “It will be carried out by the army with the security agencies and in coordination with the Palestinian factions in the camp, led by the Fatah movement, which is the official representative of the Palestinian people,” it added.

The Palestinians have expressed their “complete understanding” of the issue, it remarked.

The laying down of weapons by Palestinian factions is a step towards all illegal weapons throughout the country being turned over to the Lebanese state, it went on to say.

“There are no longer any excuses for weapons to remain in possession of any organization,” stressed the source.

Lebanese groups will be demanded to lay down their arms after the Palestinian ones do, it added.

In a first, the Palestinian factions have been very receptive to a Lebanese head of state’s demand to cooperate in limiting the possession of weapons in the refugee camps.

Member of the Palestinian National and Central Councils Haitham Zaiter said that the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) recognizes that the camps are part of Lebanese territories, so they come under the authority of the state and its laws.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that “complete coordination” is ongoing between the Lebanese security agencies and PLO inside the camps where several wanted Lebanese and Palestinian suspects and others from other nationalities have been turned over to the authorities.

The suspects had sought refuge in the camps to avoid justice in the crimes they have committed, he acknowledged.

“The PLO is the sole representative of the Palestinian people inside Palestine and in the diaspora,” he stated.

Moreover, Zaiter explained that Palestinian weapons in Lebanon are either carried by the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC) outside the camps or by non-partisan individuals inside the camps.

The PFLP-GC laid down its weapons as soon as the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad collapsed in December.

Heavy weapons inside the camps had been previously brought in with the aim to undermine the PLO, he added.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “has constantly called for coordination with Lebanese authorities to limit the possession of these weapons,” Zaiter said.