Hikmat al-Hijri is a religious leader of the Druze minority in Syria. His flip-flopping politics and calls for Israeli intervention during recent fighting saw him branded as both a traitor and a hero.

Nine days of armed clashes and serious abuses in Syria’s southern Sweida governorate have triggered a dire humanitarian crisis,

Video footage circulating online and verified by NBC News showed Hosam Saraya, 35, and six male relatives being made to kneel before they were gunned down.

Syrian interior ministry forces began deploying in Sweida on Saturday under a US-brokered deal intended to avert further Israeli military intervention in the Druze-majority province.Israel had bombed defence ministry forces in both Sweida and Damascus earlier this week to force their withdrawal after they were accused of summary executions and other abuses against Druze civilians during their brief deployment in the southern province.

BEIRUT (Reuters) -One elderly man had been shot in the head in his living room. Another in his bedroom. The body of a woman lay in the street. After days of bloodshed in Syria's Druze city of Sweida,

Syrian government forces have started withdrawing from the southern province of Sweida following days of vicious clashes with militias from the Druze minority.

Syria's southern city of Sweida witnesses a fragile ceasefire after deadly battles between Druze militiamen and Bedouin fighters. The conflict displaced over 128,000 people. While evacuation efforts are underway,

Syria's Druze have reached a ceasefire agreement with the Syrian government in Sweida that will take immediate effect, Druze religious leader Sheikh Yousef Jarbou said in a video broadcast by state media on Wednesday.