By Halit Suleyman
AS-SUWAYDA, Syria (AA) - At least five prisoners were killed and many others injured in a Syrian regime raid on a prison in the war-torn country's southwestern As-Suwayda city on Saturday, according to local sources.
Regime forces opened fire inside the cells and threw tear gas canisters that caused an unknown number of inmates to suffer asphyxiation, the sources said, adding that they feared the regime could carry out a "massacre" in the prison if left unchecked by international actors.
The prison in As-Suwayda houses 1,300 prisoners, including those sentenced on political charges, the sources said.
Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the regime of Bashar al-Assad cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the Arab Spring uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.
Since then, more than a quarter of a million victims have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to the UN.