The first humanitarian aid convoy entered the southern Syrian city of Sweida today, a Red Crescent official says, a week after deadly sectarian violence erupted in the Druze heartland.

Syrian interior ministry forces began deploying in Sweida on Saturday under a US-brokered deal intended to avert further Israeli military intervention in the Druze-majority province.Israel had bombed defence ministry forces in both Sweida and Damascus earlier this week to force their withdrawal after they were accused of summary executions and other abuses against Druze civilians during their brief deployment in the southern province.

Syrian government forces had largely pulled out of the Druze-majority southern province of Sweida after days of clashes with militias linked to the Druze religious minority that threatened to unravel the country’s fragile post-war transition.

Recent clashes in Sweida between armed Druze and Bedouin clans resulted in hundreds of deaths and escalated sectarian tensions. A US-brokered ceasefire brought cautious calm. Humanitarian aid is entering the city,

BEIRUT (Reuters) -One elderly man had been shot in the head in his living room. Another in his bedroom. The body of a woman lay in the street. After days of bloodshed in Syria's Druze city of Sweida,

Dozens of Syrians from minority communities rallied on Saturday in London and Paris, calling for action to protect the Druze in their Sweida heartland, where sectarian violence has killed hundreds.In central London,

Around 940 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in week-long violence in Syria's Druze-majority province of Sweida, a war monitor reported on Saturday, amid renewed sectarian fighting despite a ceasefire announcement.

The interior ministry said clashes in Sweida city had been halted and the area cleared of Bedouin tribal fighters following the deployment.