The traitor falls Bashar al-Assad“.. This is the slogan raised by the demonstrators in the province As-Suwayda South Syria. During their protests against the deteriorating economic situation, this city, which is under the control of Damascus, is still the scene of protests demanding the departure of the regime.
In the context of a significant deterioration in living conditions in the country, these protests erupted after the authorities decided to lift government subsidies on fuel. But the movements quickly took on a political character.
Syria is witnessing a suffocating economic crisis, which was exacerbated by a devastating earthquake in February and the economic sanctions imposed by Western countries, with which the local currency lost more than 99 percent of its value.
On the other hand, Damascus asserts that the economic sanctions imposed on it are the main reason for the continuous deterioration of its economy. The United Nations indicates that more than 90 percent of Syrians live below the poverty line.
The official authorities did not provide an official response to these demonstrations.
Economic crisis with political backgrounds
“The economic crisis in Syria has reached its extreme,” Rami al-Khalifa al-Ali, a researcher in political philosophy at the University of Paris, told France 24, adding: “Even some of the Alawite sect from which Bashar al-Assad descends moved in the Sahel region to demand an improvement in the deteriorating economic situation. From the Syrians, the deterioration of the economic situation is due to the state of political stalemate. The demonstrators in As-Suwayda, where the security grip is less than the rest of the regions, raised demands for the implementation of UN Resolution 2254, which provides for a political transition and the establishment of a new regime.
So far, the Syrian security forces have not resorted to repressing the demonstrators despite their public attack on the symbols of power, as the protesters closed the offices of the Baath Party and tore down pictures of the Syrian president.
In turn, the head of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, Mazen Darwish, confirms that the Syrian situation is not only governed by internal factors. He told France 24: “Syrians are now well aware that the external factor affects the country, which has made the As-Suwayda demonstrations more mature in their political messages, despite their strength. There is greater sensitivity among the demonstrators in dealing with local and external balances.”
Margin of “freedom” in Sweida
Here, Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Paris, Rami Al-Khalifa Al-Ali, believes that “the regime did not suppress the movements in As-Suwayda due to the special character of the city, and considering the regime presents itself as a protector of minorities in Syria. In addition, the presence of an unarmed civilian opposition in the city left it with a margin of movement.” Areas in southern Syria have kept communication channels open with the regime, and reconciliation agreements have been reached for years.
The people of As-Suwayda, who represent three percent of the population, were not involved in the conflict throughout the years of the civil war. They failed to support the regime or join the opposition, except in rare cases. Thousands of its youth took up arms in defense of their areas only, without the regime taking a position on them.
The Syrian government is represented in the As-Suwayda governorate through official institutions, while the army is currently deployed at checkpoints in the vicinity of the governorate.
In the context, Mazen Darwish says, “The number of demonstrators on Friday in Karama Square in As-Suwayda is more than its predecessors. Some believed that the movement of political and economic demands in Syria had ended after the de-escalation agreements in 2018.”
Regarding the security forces’ failure to suppress the demonstrators, Mazen Darwish adds, “It is true that the area of freedom in As-Suwayda is greater than the rest of the regions. I can say that As-Suwayda is somewhat isolated and the movement in it can continue for months without being disturbing to Damascus. Even if the area of protests expands, the Everyone learned lessons from what happened in 2011 and the years of the war that followed, and the moves will be different.
A different deal with the Daraa demonstrations
In recent weeks, demonstrations took place in other Syrian cities, especially in Daraa Governorate, Mahd The popular uprising in Syria in 2011According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Dozens of residents participated in a demonstration in the town of Busra al-Sham, chanting slogans against President Bashar al-Assad.
The demonstrators in the town, which is under the control of Syrian factions that concluded settlement agreements with Damascus under Russian auspices starting in 2018, raised banners on August 25, carrying several slogans, including “Leave, we want to live” and “Silence today means the continuation of the tyrant.”
Witnesses confirmed that dissatisfaction with the high cost of living also affected the suburbs of Damascus, where residents demonstrated in mid-August against the continuous power outages.
Rami al-Khalifa confirms this when he says: “Social movements were not limited to As-Suwayda, but the authorities’ dealings with them were different, as demonstrators in the city of Nawa in Daraa governorate were shot after similar protests broke out.”
Local and international “balances”.
The social movements in Syria come after the Syrian regime regained a kind of external recognition by restoring Syria’s seat in the Arab League and Assad’s visit to the UAE and his participation in the recent Arab summit in Jeddah.
Economically, Al-Ali believes that the impact of the Syrian return to the “Arab embrace” remains very limited, especially with the faltering of the Arab initiative in Syria. He told France 24: “Channels of communication with the Arab parties have almost stopped, with drug smuggling not stopping Captagon To the Arab Gulf states and the lack of any internal political progress. I think that the American opposition to the Arab openness to Damascus and its adherence to its position on the Syrian regime also makes the provision of Arab economic assistance unlikely.
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2023-09-01 13:42:10
