Three Wounded as Gunshots Disperse Anti-govt Protest in Syria’s Sweida

In this photo released by Suwayda24, people stage a protest as they wave the Druze flags in the southern city of Sweida, Syria, Friday, Sept. 8, 2023. (Suwayda24 via AP)
In this photo released by Suwayda24, people stage a protest as they wave the Druze flags in the southern city of Sweida, Syria, Friday, Sept. 8, 2023. (Suwayda24 via AP)
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Three Wounded as Gunshots Disperse Anti-govt Protest in Syria’s Sweida

In this photo released by Suwayda24, people stage a protest as they wave the Druze flags in the southern city of Sweida, Syria, Friday, Sept. 8, 2023. (Suwayda24 via AP)
In this photo released by Suwayda24, people stage a protest as they wave the Druze flags in the southern city of Sweida, Syria, Friday, Sept. 8, 2023. (Suwayda24 via AP)

Three people were wounded on Wednesday when bullets were sprayed at anti-government protesters in the southern Syrian city of Sweida, activists and local journalists said, in the first reported use of violence in weeks-long demonstrations there.

Activists, who have been taking to the streets to call for President Bashar al-Assad to step down over worsening living conditions, accused members of the ruling Baath party of firing. Reuters could not independently confirm this.

In a video posted online by the Sweida24 activist collective, men could be seen running away from the entrance of a building as around two dozen gunshots were heard.

The caption identified the building as the local headquarters for the Baath party and said protesters had been trying to close it down. Demonstrators temporarily forced its closure in late August.

Sweida24 said the three wounded people were being treated at hospitals.

Conflict erupted in Syria in 2011 with rallies against Assad in the country's south and quickly morphed into an all-out war that has left hundreds of thousands dead and displaced millions.

Assad recaptured most of the country with help from his allies Russia and Iran. Even with frontlines calmer, the country's economy remains in tatters and its humanitarian needs have skyrocketed.

Still, open criticism of the government was extremely rare in Assad-held areas until the government's decision to lift fuel subsidies last month, prompted fresh protests concentrated in Sweida.

The spiritual head of Syria's Druze community, Sheikh Hikmat Hajri, on Wednesday blamed "corrupt" security forces for the incident, which he said would not deter protests.

"The main thing is restraint, and we won't give up on our peaceful demands. The street is with us. ... (We will stay) a day or two or a month or years," Hajri said.

In the past, Druze community leaders have heeded calls by authorities to defuse protests. But their support for the recent rallies has encouraged Druze, who had stayed on the sidelines, to join the protests, organizers and residents said.



Weaponization of Food in Gaza Constitutes War Crime, UN Rights Office Says

A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches among the ruins of buildings destroyed by Israeli bombardments in west of Gaza City, Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches among the ruins of buildings destroyed by Israeli bombardments in west of Gaza City, Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
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Weaponization of Food in Gaza Constitutes War Crime, UN Rights Office Says

A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches among the ruins of buildings destroyed by Israeli bombardments in west of Gaza City, Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches among the ruins of buildings destroyed by Israeli bombardments in west of Gaza City, Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

The UN human rights office said on Tuesday that the "weaponization" of food for civilians in Gaza constitutes a war crime, in its strongest remarks yet on a new model of aid distribution run by an Israeli-backed organization.

Over 410 people have been killed by gunshots or shells fired by the Israeli military while trying to reach distribution sites of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation since it began work in late May, UN human rights spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told reporters at a Geneva press briefing.

The death toll has been independently verified by his office, he added.

"Desperate, hungry people in Gaza continue to face the inhumane choice of either starving to death or risk being killed while trying to get food," he said, describing the system as "Israel's militarized humanitarian assistance mechanism".

"The weaponization of food for civilians, in addition to restricting or preventing their access to life-sustaining services, constitutes a war crime and, under certain circumstances, may constitute elements of other crimes under international law."

Asked whether Israel was guilty of that war crime, he said: "The legal qualification needs to be made by a court of law."

Israel rejects war crimes charges in Gaza and blames Hamas fighters for harm to civilians for operating among them, which the fighters deny.