Protests in Southern Syria Call for 'Civil Disobedience'

Protests erupt in the city of As-Suwayda, Syria (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Protests erupt in the city of As-Suwayda, Syria (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Protests in Southern Syria Call for 'Civil Disobedience'

Protests erupt in the city of As-Suwayda, Syria (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Protests erupt in the city of As-Suwayda, Syria (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Protesters in As-Suwayda governorate, southern Syria, blocked a pivotal street in the provincial capital at the Al-Mashnaqa roundabout, and set tires ablaze as they carried out a demonstration against worsening living conditions.

They raised slogans calling for the trial of the corrupt and urged civil disobedience to fight deteriorating conditions across Syria.

The group of protesters delivered a statement in which they said they will use civil disobedience in As-Suwayda until their legitimate demands are achieved.

Their demands included the removal of security services that protect drug dealers in the governorate, the exit of Iranian militias and Hezbollah from As-Suwayda, and the improvement of living and economic conditions in the region.

In their statement, they accused the Syrian authorities of carrying out a siege on As-Suwayda.

Journalist Suleiman Fakhr, director of the local Al-Rased network in As-Suwayda, revealed that the local community had conflicting opinions regarding the demands of protesters.

According to Fakhr, the number of protesters was not large.

Demonstrators did not find popular support as their demands went beyond service matters to talk about expelling security services and accusing the regime of being behind the spread of drugs in the province, Fakhr explained to Asharq Al-Awsat.

These protesters have intentions to escalate and are different from the protesters who carried out a silent protest earlier this week.

On Monday, a group of demonstrators raised political, social, and economic slogans and announced their decision to hold a silent sit-in every Monday.

Fakhr added that the protests came in the context of a major economic crisis that the Syrian country is experiencing.

The crisis has led to the deterioration of living conditions in As-Suwayda and the whole of Syria.

Features of the crisis include fuel shortages, complete paralysis of services in As-Suwayda, and a significant decline in the value of wages and salaries.

As-Suwayda governorate has been embroiled in continuous protests calling for improvement in economic, living, and political conditions. Demonstrators often blame the Syrian government for the deterioration of the situation in Syria.

Meanwhile, dozens of protesters gathered in the main square in the center of Jassem city in the northern countryside of Daraa governorate, demanding the release of the detainees.

Demonstrators urged the people to endorse demands for releasing the detainees in Daraa, saying that the file has not been dealt with seriously even after the settlement agreement and the intervention of the Russian side.



US Envoy Reaffirms Backing for Damascus, Rules Out ‘Plan B’

US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
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US Envoy Reaffirms Backing for Damascus, Rules Out ‘Plan B’

US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH

The United States will keep backing Syria’s government and has no “Plan B” to working with it to unite the war‑scarred country back together, still reeling from years of civil war and wracked by new sectarian violence, US envoy Tom Barrack said on Monday.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Barrack – Washington’s ambassador to Türkiye and special envoy for Syria, who is also on a short assignment in Lebanon – called last week’s Israeli strikes inside Syria “badly timed” and said they had “complicated efforts to stabilize the region.”

Barrack spoke in Beirut after more than a week of clashes in Sweida province between Druze militiamen and Sunni Bedouin tribes.

Over the weekend he brokered what he described as a limited ceasefire between Syria and Israel, aimed only at halting the fighting in Sweida. Syrian government troops have since redeployed in the area and evacuated civilians from both communities on Monday, he said.

Barrack told the AP that “the killing, the revenge, the massacres on both sides” are “intolerable,” but that “the current government of Syria, in my opinion, has conducted themselves as best they can as a nascent government with very few resources to address the multiplicity of issues that arise in trying to bring a diverse society together.”

Regarding Israel’s strikes on Syria, Barrack said: “The United States was not asked, nor did they participate in that decision, nor was it the United States’ responsibility in matters that Israel feels is for its own self-defense.”

However, he said Israel’s intervention “creates another very confusing chapter” and “came at a very bad time.”

Prior to the violence in Sweida, Israel and Syria had been in talks over security matters, while the Trump administration had been pushing them to move toward full normalization of diplomatic relations.

When the latest fighting erupted, “Israel’s view was that south of Damascus was this questionable zone, so that whatever happened militarily in that zone needed to be agreed upon and discussed with them,” Barrack said. “The new government (in Syria) coming in was not exactly of that belief.”

The ceasefire announced Saturday between Syria and Israel is a limited agreement addressing only the conflict in Sweida, he said. It does not address broader issues including Israel’s contention that the area south of Damascus should be a demilitarized zone.

In the discussions leading up to the ceasefire, Barrack said “both sides did the best they can” to reach agreement on specific questions related to the movement of Syrian forces and equipment from Damascus to Sweida.

He suggested that Israel would prefer to see Syria fragmented and divided rather than a strong central state in control of the country.

Later Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz posted on X that Israel’s strikes “were the only way to stop the massacre of the Druze in Syria, the brothers of our brothers the Israeli Druze”.

Katz added: “Anyone who criticizes the attacks is unaware of the facts,” he continued. It was not clear if he was responding to Barrack’s comments.

Damascus has been negotiating with the Kurdish forces that control much of northeast Syria to implement an agreement that would merge the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces with the new national army.