Title: Death of a Syrian During Anti-Assad Protest in Sweida

A medical source and local observers reported that a young Syrian man died from injuries sustained during a protest on Wednesday against President Bashar al-Assad in the Sweida province of southern Syria. The news website Sweida 24 mentioned that a 52-year-old man died from injuries caused by gunfire after security forces guarding a government building opened fire on protesters nearby. The website also stated that the spiritual leader of the Druze community, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, met with the protesters on Wednesday and described the deceased man as a "martyr of duty." A local medical source and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors events in the Syrian war for 13 years, confirmed the death. This marks the first recorded fatality in protests related to economic conditions that swept through the predominantly Druze region of Sweida last year, which quickly turned into anti-Assad demonstrations.