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 had largely pulled out of the Druze-majority southern province of Sweida after days of clashes with militias linked to the Druze religious minority that threatened to unravel the country’s fragile post-war transition.

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.

Clashes flared up again Friday between Druze militiamen and Sunni Bedouin tribes around Sweida in southern Syria. Footage from the Al-Arabiya network showed fires burning on the roadside and a heavy presence of Syrian security forces and other armed men.

A US-mediated ceasefire was announced after Israeli airstrikes and brutal clashes between Druze and Bedouins displaced 80,000 in Syria’s Sweida province. Humanitarian aid is blocked amid renewed violence and a worsening crisis in southern Syria.

The United States said early Saturday that it had negotiated a ceasefire between Israel and Syria's government as new clashes erupted in Syria's Druze heartland following violence that prompted massive Israeli strikes.

U.S. Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said early Saturday that Israel and Syria had agreed to a cease-fire, following Israel’s intervention this week in fighting between Syrian government forces and