DAMASCUS (Dispatches) -- Protests and transport strikes erupted across parts of Syria on Sunday after fuel prices rose by as much as 40 percent, while Israeli forces renewed artillery strikes on the outskirts of Damascus and conducted a ground incursion in the south, according to Syrian media and a war monitor.
The unrest came hours after new temporary prices took effect at midnight. Diesel rose 40 percent to 175 new Syrian pounds per liter, while 95-octane gasoline increased 28.3 percent to 195 pounds, and 90-octane climbed 25.9 percent to 185 pounds. 
Under de facto president Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, a former Daesh and Al-Qaeda deputy, prices across Syria have skyrocketed, with fuel costs jumping by as much as 40 percent, bread disappearing from shelves in some provinces, and the cost of basic goods and services spiraling beyond the reach of ordinary families.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported protests, road blockages and a strike by public transport drivers in several areas, particularly in the northeastern provinces of Hasakah and Dayr al-Zawr, with demonstrations also in Raqqa province. 
Video footage circulated online showed a road cut off on the Aleppo-Dayr al-Zawr highway in Raqqa’s Huwayjat Shinan area.
A Syrian energy official acknowledged the increases would burden citizens but said heavy reliance on imported energy products meant domestic prices could not be insulated from international market fluctuations. 
Syria currently produces around 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day, covering only about one-third of domestic demand.
Israeli forces fired seven artillery shells at the Tal Harboun area west of Beit Jinn in the western Damascus countryside on Sunday, with no injuries reported, according to SANA. The strikes followed similar attacks on Friday and Saturday targeting the outskirts of Beit Jinn.
In the southern Quneitra countryside, an Israeli force comprising three tanks, 12 military vehicles and more than 10 armored personnel carriers advanced into Tal Ahmar near the village of Ain al-Nouriya, according to the Syrian News Channel. The incursion followed two days of Israeli artillery shelling near Beit Jinn.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with his Syrian counterpart Asaad al-Sheibani in Damascus on Sunday, with both sides emphasizing rapidly advancing relations. 
Fidan also accused Israel of “indirectly” supporting terrorist activities in Syria by striking its military capabilities, calling Israel’s policy “the most serious obstacle” to progress in Syria.
The Sunday developments followed a prison riot and fire in the northern Kurdish-majority town of Kobani on Saturday that killed at least seven inmates, state media reported. 
Inmates set fire to the prison building and the blaze spread to several dormitories, according to state television. 
The riot followed protests over the killing of former Kurdish fighter Sami Shekhmous Hiso, whose body was returned with bullet wounds on Thursday in Hasakeh province.