Syria: At least 2 dead as protest escalates in Sweida

One civilian and a policeman were killed Sunday in Syria's southern city of Sweida as security forces cracked down on a protest by hundreds of people upset about the war-torn country's economic woes.

Unrest rocked the regime-held city as demonstrators threw stones at a government building before storming it.

Once inside they tore down a large picture of Syrian strongman Bashar Assad from its facade, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

What do we know about the protests?

"At least one protester and one police officer were killed," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told the news agency AFP.

The civilian was shot dead after security forces opened fire on protesters forcing their way into the government building, Rahman said, adding that protesters were forcefully dispersed to quell the unrest.

Local media outlet Suwayda24 also reported the two deaths and said four other people had been hospitalized with gunshot wounds.

Where is Sweida?

Lying south of Damascus in the heartland of the Druze, Sweida has witnessed multiple street protests over economic problems in the last two years.

The region has largely kept out of the country's civil war, which has been ongoing for 11 years and has wreaked havoc on its economy, dramatically devaluing the local currency.

The domestic conflict has resulted in the deaths of nearly half a million people since it began in 2011.

jsi/ar (AFP, dpa)