Days of clashes between Bedouin and Druze fighters in Syria's Suweida region have reportedly left hundreds dead.

Sky News' special correspondent Alex Crawford is in southern Syria, where the government says escalating violence has been halted and a fragile ceasefire between rival factions is in place. Follow below for the latest updates.

Calm returned to southern Syria's Sweida province on Sunday, a monitor and AFP correspondents reported, after a week of sectarian violence between Dru

Sectarian clashes escalated in Syria's predominantly Druze region of Sweida on Saturday, with machinegun fire and mortar shelling ringing out after

Deadly sectarian clashes in Syria eased on Thursday, after a ceasefire was announced between groups fighting in the Druze-majority southern province and Israel signaled air strikes over recent days were suspended.

The conflict drew airstrikes against Syrian forces by neighboring Israel in defense of the Druze minority before most of the fighting was halted by a truce announced Wednesday.

Syria's defense minister has announced a ceasefire just hours after government forces entered a key city in the volatile Sweida province.

Druze fighters had pushed out rival armed factions from the city on Saturday, a monitor said, after the government ordered a ceasefire following a US-brokered deal to avert further Israeli military intervention.

Israel launched rare strikes in Damascus on Wednesday in a campaign it said was aimed at defending the Druze community after days of clashes in the southern city of Sweida.

Clashes between Bedouin tribes, government forces and members of a minority sect in Syria have left dozens dead and once again raised fears of a breakdown in the country's fragile postwar order. The country is deeply divided as it tries to emerge from decades of dictatorship and nearly 14 years of civil war.