About 30,000 mostly Druze people are thought to be trapped inside the besieged city of Sweida and surrounding towns, with no electricity, little internet and dwindling supplies of food and water.

Dr Talat Amer, a surgeon at Sweida National Hospital in southern Syria, worked tirelessly for three days as bombs fell and the building came under siege from government and militia forces.

Syria's armed Bedouin clans on Sunday announced that they had withdrawn from the southern city of Sweida following over a week of clashes, as per a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement.

Syria's Druze have reached a ceasefire agreement with the Syrian government in Sweida that will take immediate effect, Druze religious leader Sheikh Yousef Jarbou said in a video broadcast by state media on Wednesday.

On July 13, clashes broke out between Bedouin Arab tribes and armed Druze groups in Suwayda. Violence escalated and Israeli airstrikes followed, including on Syrian military positions and infrastructure in Damascus. Israel cited the “protection of Druze communities” as a pretext for its attacks.

Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has urged Sunni Bedouin tribes to honor a ceasefire aimed at ending deadly clashes with Druze-linked militias

Israeli officials urged Druze citizens to stay home to avoid risking their lives amid ongoing violence in Syria. The Druze, historically navigating power shifts, remain politically divided after Assad's fall.

Violence in Syria's Druze province has triggered Israeli military action, complicating relations with Turkey and creating a power vacuum that Iran could exploit.

Move comes after end of 'army’s mission to pursue outlaw groups,' says official news agency SANA - Anadolu Ajansı