One elderly man had been shot in the head in his living room. Another in his bedroom. The body of a woman lay in the street. After days of bloodshed in Syria's Druze city of Sweida, survivors emerged on Thursday to collect and bury the scores of dead found across the city.

"We will not allow military forces to move south of Damascus, and we will not allow harm to come to the Druze in Jabal al-Druze," the prime minister said.

Hundreds of Druze from Israel pushed across the border in solidarity with their Syrian cousins they feared were under attack. Many then met relatives never seen before.

Druze leader Youssef Jarbu'a confirmed the regime’s claim that a ceasefire had been reached. However, shelling and gunfire continued in various parts of the Druze-majority province

Syrian government forces have started withdrawing from the southern province of Sweida following days of vicious clashes with militias from the Druze minority

Syria's defense minister has announced a ceasefire just hours after government forces entered a key city in the volatile Sweida province.

Israel has launched strikes against Syrian government forces near the Israeli border to protect the Druze minority, as clashes between armed Druze groups and Bedouin fighters escalate. Israeli officials cited deep connections with Druze citizens as the reason for the intervention,