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 loo

The head of the United Nations human rights office called on Friday for Syria's interim authorities to ensure accountability and justice for killings and rights violations in the southern city of Sweida.

Nearly 600 killed in sectarian clashes in Syria’s Sweida as troops withdraw under pressure, Israeli strikes and US-led mediation avert wider escalation.

Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa accused Israel of trying to fracture Syria and promised to protect its Druze minority on Thursday after U.S. intervention to help achieve a truce in fighting between government forces and Druze fighters.

Syrian troops on Thursday pulled out of the Druze heartland of Sweida on the orders of the Islamist-led government, following days of deadly clashes that killed nearly 600 people, according to a war monitor.

In Syria's Druze-majority city of Sweida, residents said they have been living in terror since the arrival of government forces who have been carrying out what witnesses and a war monitor have called summary executions.

Israel carried out heavy airstrikes in the heart of Damascus om Wednesday, hitting Syrian Defense Ministry headquarters and an area near the presidential palace.