The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war monitor, said the clashes started after members of a Bedouin tribe in Sweida province set up a checkpoint where they attacked and robbed a Druze man, leading to tit-for-tat attacks and kidnappings between the tribes and Druze armed groups.

Syria's army began withdrawing from violence-hit Sweida on Wednesday after Israeli strikes on Damascus and US calls for a pullback from the Druze-majority city, state media said. Washington, which seeks to mend ties with Syria,

Israel threatened to escalate attacks on Syrian government forces unless they withdrew from Sweida, a southern province dominated by the country’s Druse minority.

DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) — Israel bombed the Syrian army's headquarters in Damascus on Wednesday after warning the Islamist-led government to leave the country's Druze minority alone, as authorities announced a ceasefire in the community's southern heartland after deadly sectarian clashes.

Syria announced that its army had begun to withdraw from violence-hit Sweida on Wednesday, following a wave of Israeli strikes on the capital and a US call for government forces to leave the majority-Druze southern city.

Israel increased its military presence along the Syrian border on Wednesday after violent clashes between Druze and Bedouin groups in southern Syria. The unrest, centered in the Sweida region, led the Syrian government to send in troops.

Israeli officials react to the ongoing violence in Syria's Sweida between regime forces and the local Druze community. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Israeli Druze citizens not to cross the border amid ongoing clashes in Sweida in southern Syria on Wednesday afternoon.

The two sides have a longstanding feud in Sweida. Government forces sent reinforcements to the region, in the country’s south, saying they want to re-establish security. But according to witnesses, Druze armed groups and the Syrian Observatory for Human ...

(Reuters) -Israeli drones targeted Syria's city of Sweida, where clashes between Syrian government troops and local Druze fighters have resumed, Syrian state news agency said on Wednesday. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.