Armed Bedouin clans have withdrawn from the Druze-majority Syrian city of Sweida after a week of deadly clashes. A U.S.

As violence broke out last week between two ethnic groups in southern Syria, both the Israeli and Syrian governments intervened.

An American citizen from Oklahoma was among eight men, all family members, rounded up and killed during the sectarian violence that flared in Syria last week.

Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa's government responded by deploying forces to the city. Druze residents of Suweida told the BBC they had witnessed "barbaric acts" as gunmen - government forces and foreign fighters - attacked people. Israel targeted these forces, saying they were acting to protect the Druze.

Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has urged Sunni Bedouin tribes to honor a ceasefire aimed at ending deadly clashes with Druze-linked militias Sweida

In this whirl of shrapnel and shellfire, hopes for a new era of peace in a nation long torn apart by dictatorship and a 14-year civil war are quickly fading. Instead, Syria appears on the brink of being dragged into yet another civil and international conflict.

Members of the Syrian American community in Portland are grieving the loss of loved ones following attacks in southern Syria.