In the primarily Druze province of al-Suwayda' in southern Syria, protests demanding political change have been occurring on almost a daily basis for more than six months now. I myself have been skeptical from the outset about whether they matter in the bigger picture, and still believe that this assessment holds. But what is the current status of the protests? Do they still have the same momentum? And what is their future direction? What are some of the different ideas espoused about the future of Syria and al-Suwayda' in the protests? Does the 'autonomous administration' of the U.S.-supported Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) provide a model? What about talk of turning towards armed rebellion?
To discuss these matters, I conducted an interview recently with Aysar Morshed, an opposition activist based in al-Suwayda'. Last year, I interviewed Aysar a few months prior to the outbreak of the latest protests, and he predicted that there would be a general uprising or rebellion in al-Suwayda' because of the deterioration in the living situation. This interview was conducted on 3 March. It is slightly edited and condensed for clarity.
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