BEIRUT — Angry protesters raided the local offices of the ruling Baath party in a southern Syrian province Wednesday, as protests intensified against the country’s government during a severe economic and financial crisis battering the war-torn country.
Protests have so far not spread to government strongholds along the Mediterranean coast, the capital Damascus and the largest cities, including Aleppo and Homs. “These are the largest protests that have taken place in Sweida,” Rayan Maarouf, Editor-in-Chief of local activist media collective Suwayda24, told The Associated Press. “At one point most people were neutral or unsure, but now they don’t believe their lives can improve without political change.”