Clashes have erupted again between Druze militias and Bedouin clans in southern Syria. Government forces withdrew from the area earlier this week under a U.S.

Armed tribes supported by Syria's Islamist-led government clashed with Druze fighters in the community's Sweida heartland on Friday, a day after the army withdrew under Israeli bombardment and diplomatic pressure.

Syria's Druze have reached a ceasefire agreement with the Syrian government in Sweida that will take immediate effect, Druze religious leader Sheikh Yousef Jarbou said in a video broadcast by state media on Wednesday.

Clashes that shook southern Syria this week have killed hundreds of people, including civilians, and drawn in an array of both local and international players, harking back to the dynamics of the country’s nearly 14-year civil war.

Nearly 600 killed in sectarian clashes in Syria’s Sweida as troops withdraw under pressure, Israeli strikes and US-led mediation avert wider escalation.

Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa accused Israel of trying to fracture Syria and promised to protect its Druze minority on Thursday after U.S. intervention to help achieve a truce in fighting between government forces and Druze fighters.

Syrian troops on Thursday pulled out of the Druze heartland of Sweida on the orders of the Islamist-led government, following days of deadly clashes that killed nearly 600 people, according to a war monitor.

Israel carried out heavy airstrikes in the heart of Damascus om Wednesday, hitting Syrian Defense Ministry headquarters and an area near the presidential palace.