Syria: Protester Killed in Sweida

Pro-government forces killed a protester in war-torn Syria's south, the first death since anti-government demonstrators started taking to the streets of Sweida six months ago, a war monitor said.

Protests in Sweida province, the heartland of Syria's Druze minority, began after President Bashar al-Assad's government ended fuel subsidies in August last year.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said dozens of people were chanting anti-government slogans in front of a recently reopened state office building that deals with citizens' affairs such as outstanding military service.

"Pro-government forces fired into the air to disperse the crowd, wounding two protesters, one of whom later died," said the Britain-based monitor, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria.

The 54-year-old man was the first person "killed by pro-government forces since the start of demonstrations" in Sweida, said Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman.

The Suwayda24 media outlet, run by citizen journalists, also said a protester had been shot dead.

The news website shared video footage showing dozens of peaceful, unarmed protesters gathered around a government building.

Moments later, gunshots are heard and a bleeding man is seen being helped away by other protesters.

Sweida has been mostly spared the fighting during Syria's conflict, and has faced only sporadic jihadist attacks, which were repelled.

Syrian security services have a limited presence in the province where Damascus has turned a blind eye to tens of thousands of Druze men refusing to undertake compulsory military service.

But protests against deteriorating economic conditions have occasionally erupted in the province in recent years.