The conflict drew airstrikes against Syrian forces by neighboring Israel in defense of the Druze minority before most of the fighting was halted by a truce announced Wednesday.

US envoy Tom Barrack announces a ceasefire between Israel and Syria after deadly sectarian violence in Sweida. Nearly 80,000 displaced, as the humanitarian crisis deepens and tensions persist.

Syrian government forces had largely pulled out of the Druze-majority southern province of Sweida after days of clashes with militias linked to the Druze religious minority that threatened to unravel the country’s fragile post-war transition.

Syrian security forces are preparing to redeploy to the Druze-majority Sweida city to quell fighting with Bedouin tribes, a Syrian interior ministry spokesperson said on Friday, further straining a fragile truce in Syria's south.

Clashes flared up again Friday between Druze militiamen and Sunni Bedouin tribes around Sweida in southern Syria. Footage from the Al-Arabiya network showed fires burning on the roadside and a heavy presence of Syrian security forces and other armed men.

A US-mediated ceasefire was announced after Israeli airstrikes and brutal clashes between Druze and Bedouins displaced 80,000 in Syria’s Sweida province. Humanitarian aid is blocked amid renewed violence and a worsening crisis in southern Syria.

The UN Human Rights Office in Geneva reported on Friday that fresh clashes had broken out in the Syrian province of Sweida, and that it had received "credible" reports of human rights violations. Some groups were deliberately trying to incite further violence with disinformation,

Ceasefire collapses in Syria, US expands migrant detention, and more. Here's what you need to know this Friday evening, July 18, 2025.

The Israeli army continued to build a concrete wall on Friday to enforce the fence area separating the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights from Syria.