The Syrian government announced Thursday that local leaders would assume control over security in the city of Sweida in an attempt to end violence that has claimed hundreds of lives and prompted

In Syria's Druze-majority city of Sweida, residents said they have been living in terror since the arrival of government forces who have been carrying out what witnesses and a war monitor have called summary executions.

Syrian government officials and leaders in the Druze religious minority announced a renewed ceasefire Wednesday after that have threatened to unravel the country's postwar political transition and drawn military intervention by powerful neighbor Israel.