Israel and Syria agree to ceasefire, says US ambassador to Turkey, after 'hundreds' killed in clashes

Israel and Syria have agreed to a ceasefire, the US ambassador to Turkey has said.

Several hundred people have reportedly been killed this week in the south of Syria in violence involving local fighters, government authorities and Bedouin tribes.

As the violence escalated in the southern province of Sweida, Israel launched airstrikes, including attacks on Wednesday on the defence ministry in Damascus and a target near the presidential palace.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government said it aimed to protect the Druze community - part of a small but influential minority that also has followers in Lebanon and Israel.

In a post on X, the US ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, said Israel and Syria had agreed to a ceasefire supported by Turkey, Jordan and others.

"We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity," Mr Barrack said in a post on X.

A 'troubling and horrifying situation'

The Israeli embassy in Washington and Syrian Consulate in Canada did not immediately comment or respond to requests for comment from the Reuters news agency.

The ceasefire announcement came after the US worked to put an end to the conflict, with secretary of state Marco Rubio saying on Wednesday that steps had been agreed to end a "troubling and horrifying situation".

Sky News' special correspondent Alex Crawford said Israel had accused Syrian government forces of perpetrating a massacre against the Druze in Sweida.

"A number of videos posted online appeared to show dozens of civilians, including women and children, dead and mutilated - although it was unclear who had carried out the killings," she said.

"The Israeli airstrikes which followed killed hundreds of government troops but also civilians. The Israelis went on to bomb the Syrian Defence Ministry headquarters and the presidential palace in the capital, Damascus."

Airstrikes seen as aggressive message to Syrian leader

Crawford, who has been reporting from the road leading to Sweida, added: "The Israeli attacks were roundly condemned by the UN Security Council and its American allies who also indicated they were not happy with the strikes.

"The airstrikes were seen as an aggressive message to the new Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa to pull his forces out of the Druze area, which Israel has insisted should be a demilitarised buffer zone on its northern border.

"The Syrian president said he would withdraw his troops to 'avoid war' and a truce was agreed, but that quickly disintegrated when Druze factions inside Sweida embarked on an orgy of revenge killings and kidnappings, including taking a group of Arab Bedouins captive.

"We saw videos which appeared to show the corpses of Bedouin men strapped to the front of Druze militia vehicles."

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The United Nations' migration agency said earlier on Friday that nearly 80,000 people had been displaced in the region since violence broke out on Sunday.

It also said that essential services, including water and electricity, had collapsed in Sweida, telecommunications systems were widely disrupted, and health facilities in Sweida and Daraa were under severe strain.

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