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.



Israel Orders More Evacuations in Central Gaza

A Palestinian boy plays among the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 04 October 2024. (EPA)
A Palestinian boy plays among the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 04 October 2024. (EPA)
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Israel Orders More Evacuations in Central Gaza

A Palestinian boy plays among the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 04 October 2024. (EPA)
A Palestinian boy plays among the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 04 October 2024. (EPA)

The Israeli military on Saturday warned residents in parts of central Gaza to evacuate, saying its forces will soon operate there in response to Palestinian fighters.

The warnings cover areas along a strategic corridor in central Gaza, which was at the heart of obstacles to a ceasefire deal earlier this summer.

The military warned Palestinians in areas of Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps, located along the Netzarim corridor, to evacuate to the area the military designated a humanitarian zone, an area called Muwasi along Gaza’s shore.

It’s unclear how many Palestinians are currently living in this area, parts of which were evacuated previously.

Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to heavily destroyed areas of Gaza where they had fought earlier battles against Hamas and other fighters since the start of war one year ago.

The vast majority of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people has been displaced in the war, often multiple times, and hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid tent camps.

Others have remained in their homes despite being ordered to leave, saying nowhere in the isolated coastal territory feels safe.

At least 41,825 Palestinians have been killed and 96,910 wounded in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, the enclave's health authorities said on Saturday.