Ramzi has witnessed horrors throughout his career as a doctor during Syria’s 13-year civil war. But few compare, he said, to the scenes he witnessed this week at the main hospital in Sweida, a Druze-majority town where bloody sectarian violence raged for days.

Hundreds of Druze from Israel pushed across the border in solidarity with their Syrian cousins they feared were under attack. Many then met relatives never seen before.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu celebrated the success of his "peace through strength" stance against Syria in the wake of Druze violence.

Syria announced that its army had begun to withdraw from violence-hit Sweida on Wednesday, following a wave of Israeli strikes on the capital and a US call for government forces to leave the majority-Druze southern city.

At least 203 people have been killed in sectarian fighting involving Sunni tribes, Druze militias and Syrian troops in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida since Sunday, a war monitor said

SANA says women and children among those killed by armed groups following withdrawal of government forces in Sweida

Israel bombed the Syrian army headquarters in Damascus on Wednesday after warning the Islamist-led government to leave the Druze minority alone in its Sweida heartland, where a war monitor says sectarian clashes have killed nearly 250 people.