Why are the angry popular protests renewed in southern Syria?

DAMASCUS -

"The temperature reached below zero yesterday, at a time when there are only 20 pieces of firewood left in the basement from a ton I bought at the beginning of winter. Now I don't know how I will manage the heating issue after the quantity ends in the next two days at the latest."

With these words, Moataz (36 years old), from the city of As-Suwayda in southern Syria, expresses to Al-Jazeera Net his fear that heating firewood will run out from his house, which threatens his family members - especially the young ones - with winter diseases.

And Moataz added, denouncing: "In addition to the cold, there is hunger, poverty, high prices, power outages, and security chaos. Life here (Suwayda) is no longer tolerable in any way, and if the youth of the province do not protest, who will restore our dignity?"

The governorates of As-Suwayda and Daraa (in the south of the country), which are under the control of the Syrian regime, are witnessing renewed demonstrations and protests calling for the overthrow of the regime, among other living and human rights demands that protesters are demanding in squares and public gathering places in the two governorates adjacent to the capital, Damascus.

Recently, a state of popular anger has prevailed in the areas controlled by the regime, against the background of the intensification of the fuel scarcity crisis since the beginning of this December, whose repercussions affected various vital sectors in the country, and caused a paralysis of transportation in various governorates, and an increase in the prices of most food and consumer goods.

Demands

On Friday, the city of Jassem in Daraa Governorate witnessed dozens of demonstrations, calling for the release of the disappeared and detainees in the prisons of the Syrian regime.

In a precedent that occurred for the first time since the regime regained control of the governorate in 2018, the protests continued for 3 days in a row, in which the people raised banners carrying their demands, so they wrote on them: "Freedom for the detainees" and "For the sake of the detainees, we will go out every day," according to the "Tajammu'" website. Ahrar Horan" e-mail.

The demonstrators, during their gathering in Jassem City Square, chanted the slogan "The people want to overthrow the regime," which brings back memories of the scenes of the outbreak of the first uprising in the same governorate in 2011, before it expanded to most Syrian governorates.

The demonstrators called on the people of Daraa's cities and towns to show solidarity with them and come out with protests in support of the detainees and their right to freedom, and to condemn the arbitrary arrests carried out by the security services and local militias in the province.

Sweida again

Dozens of residents of As-Suwayda went to Karama Square in the city center, last Monday, and lined up for a silent protest, raising banners expressing their condemnation of the deteriorating living conditions.

The banners also carried political and human rights demands, including the demand for the implementation of UN Resolution 2254 related to Syria, which calls for a political transition of power. The demonstrators raised slogans stating, "If people starve, their rulers will be held accountable" and "Yes to a free and independent Syria."

The protest organizers said in a statement on social media that the silent sit-in is "a tribute to the sacrifices of our people, reverence before the souls of our martyrs, faith and commitment to the just and legitimate demands of the Syrian people."

This is the second protest of its kind in the governorate, after the protest on Sunday, December 11, in which the protesters denounced the state's abdication of its responsibilities towards citizens.

The assembly witnessed the intervention of a number of members of the As-Suwayda governorate, who made promises to improve the service and living conditions in the city.

The protesters responded to them by chanting, "Bread, freedom, social justice."

Recently, the organizers of the protests in As-Suwayda announced - via social media - the continuation of the protests every Monday, out of their commitment to the rightful political, social and economic demands of the Syrian people.

The spiritual leadership of the Druze community announces its position

For its part, the spiritual presidency of the Druze monotheistic sect in Syria, represented by Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, issued, on Friday, a statement calling for the disclosure of the fate of the detainees and absentees in the regime's prisons.

The statement said: "We ask and wonder with the competent authorities, where are our children who are forcibly disappeared, who are arrested in certain places? Is it not time for them to be referred to the judiciary if they have anything against them? What are the reasons for their arrest, what are their sins? And if they are innocent, who bears the guilt of their arrest?" And if they are convicted, let the confrontation take place with everyone's knowledge."

The statement denounced the practices of the regime and its apparatus in the province through its attempts to "suppress the honest patriots by distorting their path, denying their requests and changing their orientations, by spreading evil among them and fabricating charges of sabotage against them," as he put it.

Regarding the significance of the timing of this statement, Basil Abu Fakhr says that it comes at a time when As-Suwayda is witnessing the most difficult stage of life and services during the war years, and at a time when the regime is trying to accuse the honorable people in As-Suwayda of sabotage, diluting their rightful demands that they went out for since the beginning of the month.

And the activist in the As-Suwayda movement added - in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net - "I think that the spiritual leadership of the sect found it appropriate to demand the release of the detainees from the people of As-Suwayda, in conjunction with the demands of our people in Daraa."

Regarding the importance of this statement for the protesters, Abu Fakhr says, "It is a moral support that we are used to, and it is necessary at this stage to encourage people to join the just protests, and to demand their most basic rights in terms of electricity, fuel, food and security."

Chaos and a rebellious reality

The governorates of Daraa and As-Suwayda have been witnessing a state of chaos and security chaos for years due to the large spread of kidnapping and robbery gangs in the two governorates, in the absence of the regime's security role to limit these violations.

Meanwhile, the regime's security services continue their arrest campaigns in Daraa governorate, despite the pledges and guarantees made by the Russian side to the people of the governorate in the settlement processes with the regime that began in 2018.

The fuel scarcity crisis that recently afflicted the regime-controlled areas exacerbated the suffering of the people of the two governorates in terms of living and services.

In addition to the scarcity of fuel and its interruption for days, even on the black market, the people suffer from the hours of electrical cuts that reach 22 hours per day.

While a large segment of the population of the two governorates is facing the worst living conditions ever since the outbreak of the conflict in the country, with the exorbitantly high prices of most basic commodities and rampant unemployment among young people.