Syria's government misread how Israel would respond to its troops deploying to the country's south this week, encouraged by U.S. messaging that Syria should be governed as a centralized state, eight sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The announcement was made by US Envoy to Turkey and Syria Tom Barrack as Druze groups and members of the Bedouin continued to clash in Syria’s southern Sweida province, displacing tens of thousands of