Withdrawal follows announcement of truce, which a Druze spiritual leader says includes 'full integration of the province' into Syrian state, though other community leaders reject it

Syria announced that its army had begun to withdraw from violence-hit Sweida on Wednesday, following a wave of Israeli strikes on the capital and a US call for government forces to leave the majority-Druze southern city.

DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) — Israel bombed the Syrian army's headquarters in Damascus on Wednesday after warning the Islamist-led government to leave the country's Druze minority alone, as authorities announced a ceasefire in the community's southern heartland after deadly sectarian clashes.

The Syrian government deployed its forces in the Druze-majority city of Sweida, in a bid by the Islamist authorities to extend their power to the area controlled by local armed groups.

In Syria's Druze-majority city of Sweida, residents said they have been living in terror since the arrival of government forces who have been carrying out what witnesses and a war monitor have called summary executions.

Israeli officials react to the ongoing violence in Syria's Sweida between regime forces and the local Druze community.