Several days of bitter sectarian fighting in the south of Syria has brought the fledgling government in Damascus dangerously close to direct conflict with Israel, after Israeli warplanes launched strikes against government buildings in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on July 16.

Syria's defense minister has announced a ceasefire just hours after government forces entered a key city in the volatile Sweida province.

Syrian troops have pulled out of the Druze heartland of Sweida on the orders of the Islamist-led government, following days of deadly clashes that killed nearly 600 people, according to a war monitor.

Clashes between Bedouin tribes, government forces and members of a minority sect in Syria have left dozens dead and once again raised fears of a breakdown in the country's fragile postwar order. The country is deeply divided as it tries to emerge from decades of dictatorship and nearly 14 years of civil war.

Sectarian violence erupted again in southern Syria as local Sunni Bedouin tribes fought armed factions for the Druze religious community. The Syrian government dispatched troops to restore order, and Israel launched airstrikes to protect the Druze.

Israel launched several deadly airstrikes that targeted Syrian government forces in Sweida. The attack came as sectarian violence flared between Druse fighters and Bedouin tribal groups.

The latest intercommunal violence, which has left some 600 people dead in Syria’s southern province of Sweida, illustrates a fundamental disagreement between the United States and Israel over the nature of the Syrian state.