Clashes in Syria between Bedouin tribes, government forces, and the Druze minority have left dozens dead, raising fears of escalating violence.

A war monitor said that more than 350 people have been killed since the weekend in violent clashes in Syria's southern Sweida province, updating an earlier toll.

DAMASCUS — Clashes between Syrian government troops and local Druze fighters resumed in the southern Druze city of Sweida early on Wednesday, wrecking a ceasefire announced just hours earlier that aimed to put an end to days of deadly sectarian bloodshed.

Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa emphasised the protection of the Druze community following Israeli airstrikes. He expressed commitment to safeguarding their rights and reassured them against external threats during his televised address.

Here is what we know so far about the sectarian violence in Syria's Sweida province and all that has happened since. The fresh wave of violence in Sweida was the biggest since May. The clashes between the Bedouin and the Druze were triggered by the kidnapping of a Druze vegetable merchant,

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.

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.

Clashes between Bedouin tribal fighters, caretaker government forces and Druze militias stretched into their fourth day in Sweida on Wednesday while Israeli forces struck the Syrian capital, Damascus.

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.