Sectarian-tinged clashes left hundreds dead and attracted Israeli military intervention. A U.S. envoy said Israel and Syria had agreed to a truce.

By Laila Bassam DAMASCUS (Reuters) -Sectarian clashes escalated in Syria's predominantly Druze region of Sweida on Saturday, with machinegun fire and mortar shelling ringing out after days of bloodshed as the Islamist-led government struggled to implement a ceasefire.

The Syrian government says the week-long sectarian clashes in the southern region of Sweida have now been halted - after the tribal fighters were made to leave.

Armed Bedouin clans in Syria have withdrawn from the southern city of Sweida after over a week of deadly clashes.

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack announced on Friday that Syria and Israel had agreed to a ceasefire. Israel intervened in the conflict earlier this week, hitting government forces and the defence ministry building in Damascus as it declared support for the Druze minority.

The Syrian government says it has halted sectarian clashes in Sweida despite signs it's struggling to enforce the ceasefire. Also: more than 30 die in Vietnam when a tourist boat capsizes, and the young poets of Gaza.

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Syrian security forces are beginning to move into the restive province of Suwayda after days of communal fighting in which hundreds of people have been killed,the country’s interior ministry says.