Attacks against Druze civilians, allegedly carried out by members of government forces, have multiplied in recent days in the city of Sweida and its surrounding areas, which remain cut off from the outside world.

Residents described friends and neighbours being shot at close range in their homes or in the streets. They said the killings were carried out by Syrian troops.

Members of Syria's Druze community are searching for loved ones and counting their dead after days of clashes in a southern province that left bloodied bodies of civilians on the streets and homes looted.

Syria’s interior ministry spokesperson stated on Friday that government forces were not prepared to redeploy to Sweida Province, according to the official news agency

Armed tribes supported by Syria's Islamist-led government clashed with Druze fighters outside Sweida Friday a day after government troops withdrew from the Druze-majority city, the warring parties and a monitoring group said.

On Sunday, clashes began between the Druze minority and the Sunni Muslim Bedouin tribes in Syria. Till now, hundreds have died in the clashes.

Nearly 600 killed in sectarian clashes in Syria’s Sweida as troops withdraw under pressure, Israeli strikes and US-led mediation avert wider escalation.

Syrian troops on Thursday pulled out of the Druze heartland of Sweida on the orders of the Islamist-led government, following days of deadly clashes that killed nearly 600 people, according to a war monitor.