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

At least 594 people have been killed in southern Syria's Sweida province following days of intense fighting between Druze fighters, government forces and Bedouin groups, according to a war monitor.

Syria’s defense minister has announced a ceasefire after government forces entered a key city in Sweida province on Tuesday

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.

"If Israel feels that a certain leader...is an evident threat to its national security, it will operate," a former Israeli envoy told Newsweek.

Deadly sectarian clashes in Syria eased on Thursday, after a ceasefire was announced between groups fighting in the Druze-majority southern province and Israel signaled air strikes over recent days were suspended.

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.

At least 18 members of Syria's security forces have been killed in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, the Defence Ministry said, after they deployed to quell deadly sectarian clashes that had resumed on Monday,

A surge in sectarian violence in southern Syria and Israeli airstrikes reaching central Damascus have pushed the war‑scarred country into a volatile juncture, a senior UN official said on Thursday, warning that renewed violence could shatter prospects for peace and fuel wider regional instability.

The sectarian violence between Bedouin groups and militias from the Druse religious minority killed more than 50 people, according to a local health official and a monitoring group.