Armed Bedouin clans in Syria have withdrawn from the southern city of Sweida after over a week of deadly clashes.

SWEIDA: Syrian authorities evacuated Bedouin families from the Druze-majority city of Sweida on Monday, after a ceasefire in the southern province halted a week of sectarian bloodshed that a monitor said killed more than 1,260 people.

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 Sweida

The US State Department said Monday that an American citizen was killed during the unrest in the southern Syrian city of Suwayda last week.

When the Syrian civil war erupted in March 2011, Syrian Druze were targeted at times by both the Assad regime, which pressured them to support it, and by Islamist rebel groups that regarded them as infidels. The Druze straddled a fine line throughout the war, seeking, not always successfully, to be left on their own.

DAMASCUS, Syria — Renewed clashes broke out overnight between Druze armed groups and members of Bedouin clans in southern Syria, and government forces were preparing to deploy again to the area Friday after pulling out under a ceasefire agreement that halted several days of violence earlier this week, officials said.

Dozens of Bedouin tribesmen marched to Al-Mazraa near Sweida on July 20, residents reported calm in city after days of violence. The armed tribesmen drove towards village which is 12 Km away from centre of Sweida.

Today we, the Druze, are being slaughtered and are calling for the help of Israel.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared this message publicly and issued a clear reply. “We have taken action,” he said.