Syrian troops on Thursday pulled out of the Druze heartland of Sweida on the orders of the Islamist-led government, following days of deadly clashes that killed more than 500 people, according to a war monitor.

The southern province has been gripped by deadly sectarian bloodshed since Sunday, with hundreds reportedly killed in clashes pitting Druze fighters against Sunni Bedouin tribes and the army and its allies.

The city of Sweida was desolate on Thursday, AFP correspondents on the ground reported, with shops looted, homes burnt and bodies in the streets.

"What I saw of the city looked as if it had just emerged from a flood or a natural disaster," Hanadi Obeid, a 39-year-old doctor, told AFP.

In a televised speech, interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said community leaders would resume control over security in Sweida "based on the supreme national interest", after the deployment of government troops on Tuesday fuelled the intercommunal bloodshed and prompted Israeli military intervention.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 594 people had been killed in clashes in Sweida province since Sunday.

The UN's humanitarian agency, OCHA, said that "nearly 2,000 families have been displaced" by the violence across the southern province.

Israel had hammered government troops with air........

© Al Monitor