Syria's interior ministry spokesperson said on Friday that government forces were not preparing to deploy to Sweida Province, the state news agency reported.

Clashes have erupted again between Druze militias and Bedouin clans in southern Syria. Government forces withdrew from the area earlier this week under a U.S.

Armed tribes supported by Syria's Islamist-led government clashed with Druze fighters outside Sweida Friday a day after government troops withdrew from the Druze-majority city, the warring parties

The United Nations refugee agency expressed concern on Friday about the impact of hostilities in Syria's southern city of Sweida on its aid operations, and urged all sides to allow more humanitarian access.

Israel announced that a ceasefire had been reached in the area, and that the Syrian forces were expected to withdraw from areas with Druze populations.

Syrian forces are preparing redeployment to Sweida as ceasefire collapses, prompting international concern over escalating violence.

Fresh clashes broke out overnight between the Druze minority armed groups and members of Bedouin clans in southern Syria, prompting government forces to deploy again to the area on Friday after pulling out under a ceasefire agreement that halted several days of violence earlier this week,

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

Israel's statement on Friday came just days after sectarian violence and Israeli airstrikes in Syria left hundreds dead.

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,