Israel launched airstrikes in Damascus and hit government forces in the south, demanding they withdraw and saying that Israel aimed to protect Syrian Druze - part of a small but influential minority that also has members in Lebanon and Israel.

The government announcement came hours after a top U.S. envoy to the region said that the country and Israel had agreed to a truce after sectarian-tinged clashes had left hundreds dead.

The Syrian Islamist-led government announced a ceasefire in Sweida following deadly factional violence. Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa praised international mediation while criticizing Israeli airstrikes.

Syria's government misread how Israel would respond to its troops deploying to the country's south this week, encouraged by U.S. messaging that Syria should be governed as a centralized state, eight sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Israel and Syria have agreed to a ceasefire after days of deadly clashes in Syria’s Druze-majority Sweida province, with over 300 killed. The truce is backed by Turkey, Jordan, and regional allies.

Sharaa has called on the Sunni Bedouin tribes to fully adhere to the ceasefire, aimed at halting deadly confrontations with Druze-affiliated militias that have claimed hundreds of lives and put the country’s fragile post-conflict transition at risk.

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,

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.