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

Residents described friends and neighbours being shot at close range in their homes or in the streets. They said the killings were carried out by Syrian troops.

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 looted.

Syrian minority the Druze were at the centre of a new conflict, following another outbreak of violence. What began as fighting between local Bedouin groups and Druze turned into an international conflict that saw Israel bombing

Clashes that shook southern Syria this week have killed hundreds of people, including civilians, and drawn in an array of both local and international players, harking back to the dynamics of the country's nearly 14-year civil war.

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.

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