Suweida: Protests enter fourth week amid calls for political transition in Syria

Protests in the southern Syrian city of Suweida against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad have entered their fourth week, with activists vowing to continue the action until a political transition happens in Syria.

On Monday, the local news network Suwayda 24 tweeted videos of dozens of protesters gathered at the Al-Sayr Square in the centre of Suweida city, which has been renamed the Al-Karama ("Dignity") square.

#شاهد: انتفاضة السويداء تدخل اسبوعها الرابع على التوالي، وتجمع العشرات في ساحة الكرامة وسط مدينة السويداء اليوم الاثنين، للتأكيد على المطالب الداعية إلى التغيير السياسي.#مظاهرات_السويداء pic.twitter.com/2rO7fD9dEz

— السويداء 24 (@suwayda24) September 11, 2023

Besides Suweida city itself, protests have taken place in several towns and cities in the Druze-majority province.

The protesters have raised banners stressing the unity of Syria, in reply to claims by the Assad regime that they were "separatists".

In the city of Salkhad, southern Suweida province, protesters continued morning gatherings, calling for peaceful political change based on UN Security Council Resolution 2254, which contains a roadmap for political transition in Syria which the regime has refused to accept.

Protests also took place in several villages in Suweida province on Sunday evening, including Al-Sura Al-Saghira, Al-Qarayyah, and Al-Mazraa.

The protests began last month as living standards continued to deteriorate across Syria. They have brought back memories of the peaceful anti-regime protests which happened in 2011 across Syria.

Those protests were brutally suppressed by the Assad regime and the country descended into an armed conflict as a result.

For the past two weeks, anti-government protests in Syria have been gaining momentum, especially in Suweida, the heartland of Druze Syria in the southwest. The protests were initially driven by the worsening cost of living amid a crumbling economy, but quickly shifted focus 👇 pic.twitter.com/IjFBodyCpR

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) August 31, 2023

Over 500,000 people have been killed and millions more displaced since then, mostly as a result of regime bombardments of civilian areas.

Protests have taken place in Suweida province since 2011 several times but the regime has adopted a lighter approach there than in the rest of Syria, giving the province a measure of de-facto autonomy.