The Syrian government deployed its forces in the Druze-majority city of Sweida, in a bid by the Islamist authorities to extend their power to the area controlled by local armed groups.

Druse militiamen have been fighting with Bedouins in the Sweida Province, and Syrian government forces and the Israeli military are getting involved.

Dozens of wounded and dead arrived at a hospital in Al-Mazraa in Syria's southern Sweida province on Tuesday following clashes between local militias, clans and government forces.

Peace in Syria's Sweida province has been shattered by deadly fighting that started between local Druze and Bedouin groups but has now pulled in the Syrian army and even led to Israeli airstrikes. The violence reportedly began after a young Druze man was attacked,

The death toll in the Sweida province in southern Syria has reached 203 people since the clashes erupted on Sunday between "Druze factions and Bedouin gunmen," according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Druze spiritual leaders in Sweida in southern Syria called on armed Druze factions to cooperate with government forces and surrender their weapons to the Syrian government. The IDF reportedly struck the area of Sweida on Tuesday morning,

State-run al-Ikhbariya TV reported that tanks and armoured vehicles were withdrawn from residential areas in an apparent effort to de-escalate.

Loud gunfire and smoke were seen and heard over Sweida in southern Syria on Tuesday, after the defence minister announced a ceasefire following the entry of government forces into a key city in the province.