Damascus, As Suwayda Hold Indirect Negotiations after Suspending Protests

As-Suwayda protests in southern Syria last week (As-Suwayda 24 Network)
As-Suwayda protests in southern Syria last week (As-Suwayda 24 Network)
TT
20

Damascus, As Suwayda Hold Indirect Negotiations after Suspending Protests

As-Suwayda protests in southern Syria last week (As-Suwayda 24 Network)
As-Suwayda protests in southern Syria last week (As-Suwayda 24 Network)

Syria’s capital Damascus and southernmost province of As Suwayda are holding indirect negotiations after popular protests that swept the latter since last Thursday coming to a stop. Demonstrations witnessed the participation of clerics, civilians, and members of opposition factions.

“Organizers of popular movements in As Suwayda suspended demonstrations after holding a massive protest in the provincial city, As Suwayda, on Friday,” As Suwayda 24 Network Director Rayan Maarouf told Asharq Al-Awsat.

According to Maarouf, the halt in demonstrations comes to leave an opportunity for negotiations and interactions with Damascus regarding protesters’ demands.

Maarouf declined to speak of direct negotiations yet but noted that indirect negotiations are underway. He said that protest organizers, activists, and local leaderships in As-Suwayda were preparing a document of demands to present to the government in Damascus.

The paper will include local demands and reassert popular discontent against deteriorating living and economic conditions.

Maarouf revealed Damascus had made several contacts with As Suwayda to assure calm and relay the message that economic strains are nationwide.

The government blames conditions like war, sanctions and having Syria’s oil resources away from the control of the national treasury and Damascus for exacerbated economic conditions suffered by Syrians.

Maarouf explained that since the first day of the protests in As Suwayda, the government did not provide any service enhancements, instead it continued to make pledges for improvement.

Moreover, the government sent security reinforcements to public security facilities and government buildings in the provincial city. Nevertheless, these reinforcements did not interact with the protests.

In early February 2022, a new wave of protests began in different parts of As Suwayda, expressing anger and discontent with the Syrian regime, after the latter removed subsidies for staple items for hundreds of thousands of families. According to the recent decision, the affected people have become obligated to obtain food and catering supplies at the market price.

Later on February 6, the protests expanded and evolved from demonstrations to cutting off the main and secondary roads, including those that connect the governorate center with the capital, Damascus.



Israeli Forces to Demolish More than 100 Homes in Israeli-Occupied West Bank, Local Governor Says

Palestinians carry their belongings as they cross a damaged street after being ordered to leave their homes during an Israeli operation in the Tulkarem camp for refugees in the northwest of the occupied West Bank on May 2, 2025. (AFP)
Palestinians carry their belongings as they cross a damaged street after being ordered to leave their homes during an Israeli operation in the Tulkarem camp for refugees in the northwest of the occupied West Bank on May 2, 2025. (AFP)
TT
20

Israeli Forces to Demolish More than 100 Homes in Israeli-Occupied West Bank, Local Governor Says

Palestinians carry their belongings as they cross a damaged street after being ordered to leave their homes during an Israeli operation in the Tulkarem camp for refugees in the northwest of the occupied West Bank on May 2, 2025. (AFP)
Palestinians carry their belongings as they cross a damaged street after being ordered to leave their homes during an Israeli operation in the Tulkarem camp for refugees in the northwest of the occupied West Bank on May 2, 2025. (AFP)

Israeli forces were preparing on Friday to carry out home demolitions across two northern urban refugee camps in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to the governor of one of the camps and Israeli military documents shared with The Associated Press by the United Nations.

Abdallah Kamil, the governor of Tulkarem, wrote on Facebook on Thursday that the military was preparing to demolish 116 homes across Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps, two main targets of Israel´s raid into the northern West Bank.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Two demolition orders indicated that the buildings would be demolished in 24 hours, according to military documents shared by a UN official on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The news sent residents of the now evacuated Nur Shams and Tulkarem camps scrambling back to collect belongings before the destruction of their homes.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said there were reports of Israeli forces arresting and firing warning shots at Palestinians as they did so.

The Israeli military has been carrying out an operation in the West Bank over the past several months that displaced, at its height, approximately 40,000 Palestinians. It had emptied and largely destroyed several urban refugee camps in the northern West Bank, like Tulkarem and Nur Shams, that housed the descendants of Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes in previous wars. That’s the largest displacement in the West Bank since Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Mideast war.

Israel has said that troops will stay in some camps for a year.