What do new protests in Syria mean this time around?

Protests in southern Syria over the failing economy turn to calls for regime change. How will the government respond?

People take part in a protest against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the southern Druze city of Sweida, Syria, September 8, 2023
People take part in a protest against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the majority Druze city of Sweida on September 8, 2023 [Suwayda 24/Reuters]

Rare anti-government protests are taking over Syria’s southern city of Sweida, where the majority of the population is from the country’s Druze minority. Four weeks ago, the failing economy and falling wages brought protesters onto the streets. Now, they’re calling for regime change more than a decade after Syria’s uprising in 2011. Could this new movement against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad spread? Or will it be violently extinguished, like the protests more than a decade ago?

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Episode credits:

This episode was produced by David Enders with Fahrinisa Campana and our host Malika Bilal. Miranda Lin fact-checked this episode.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad is our engagement producer.

Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

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Source: Al Jazeera

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