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

Syria's Druze have reached a ceasefire agreement with the Syrian government in Sweida that will take immediate effect, Druze religious leader Sheikh Yousef Jarbou said in a video broadcast by state media on Wednesday.

Syrian government officials and leaders in the Druze religious minority announced a renewed ceasefire Wednesday after that have threatened to unravel the country's postwar political transition and drawn military intervention by powerful neighbor Israel.