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.

The attack follows a wave of Israeli strikes on Syrian government forces during two days of sectarian clashes between local Druze and Bedouin populations.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war monitor, said the clashes started after members of a Bedouin tribe in Sweida province set up a checkpoint where they attacked and robbed a Druze man, leading to tit-for-tat attacks and kidnappings between the tribes and Druze armed groups.

Several days of bitter sectarian fighting in the south of Syria has brought the fledgling government in Damascus dangerously close to direct conflict with Israel, after Israeli warplanes launched strikes against government buildings in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on July 16.

Israel continues to bomb Syria, ostensibly to support Druze forces in the southwest, even after ceasefire is declared.

The Syrian government announced a ceasefire Tuesday after it intervened to quell the deadliest outburst of sectarian violence since March, clashes that prompted Israeli airstrikes. The ceasefire, however,

Syria’s defense minister has announced a ceasefire after government forces entered a key city in Sweida province on Tuesday

Syria’s defense minister has announced a ceasefire after government forces entered a key city in Sweida province on Tuesday.

Amid violent clashes in southern Syria’s Sweida governorate, a picture of grave human rights abuses and rising humanitarian needs is emerging by the hour, the UN said on Friday.