A tense calm returned to Syria’s southern province of Sweida on Thursday as interim government troops fully withdrew after days of violent clashes involving government forces, Druze fighters, and Bedouin tribes.

Shops were looted, homes burned and bodies littered the streets of the city. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

A walk through the Rachaiya market revealed a town in quiet mourning, as shops shuttered their doors in solidarity with victims of the recent violence in Sweida—part of a broader call from local religious leaders across the district.

Hundreds of Druze from Israel pushed across the border in solidarity with their Syrian cousins they feared were under attack. Many then met relatives never seen before.

Syrian troops pulled out of the Druze heartland province of Sweida Thursday on orders from the Islamist-led government, leaving bodies strewn on the street, AFP journalists reported from the provincia

SANA says women and children among those killed by armed groups following withdrawal of government forces in Sweida

Israel bombed the Syrian army headquarters in Damascus on Wednesday after warning the Islamist-led government to leave the Druze minority alone in its Sweida heartland, where a war monitor says sectarian clashes have killed nearly 250 people.