The Syrian government says clashes in the southern city of Suwayda have stopped after a week of violence left hundreds of people dead, drawing Israeli intervention and US condemnation.

Armed Bedouin clans have withdrawn from the Druze-majority Syrian city of Sweida after a week of deadly clashes.

Religious minorities in Syria face persecution under the new Islamist government, highlighting the critical importance of religious liberty as the foundation for all other freedoms

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.

Israel launched powerful airstrikes in Damascus on Wednesday, blowing up part of the defence ministry and hitting near the presidential palace as it vowed to destroy government forces attacking Druze in southern Syria and demanded they withdraw.

That afternoon, Netanyahu and Katz ordered the Israeli military to once again attack government forces and weaponry in Suweida. They said they were working to prevent them from harming the Druze and to "ensure the demilitarisation" of areas near Israel's border.

Syria’s Interior Ministry denied reports that its forces had entered the southern Druze-majority province of Suwayda to contain ongoing clashes between Druze groups and Bedouin tribes, a state-owned Syrian TV reported on Friday,

The interior ministry said clashes in Sweida city had been halted and the area cleared of Bedouin tribal fighters following the deployment.

Armed Bedouin clans in Syria have withdrawn from the southern city of Sweida after over a week of deadly clashes.