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,

Hundreds of Druze from Israel pushed across the border in solidarity with their Syrian cousins they feared were under attack. Many then met relatives never seen before.

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

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Syria’s Druze on Thursday called for the opening of a route to connect them with the Kurdish administration in northeast Syria (Rojava), as recent attacks by Damascus-affiliated forces on the religious minority in Suwayda have triggered a dire humanitarian

The Syrian government has begun withdrawing its forces from the majority-Druze city of Suwayda, according to the country's state-run SANA news agency. A ceasefire with Druze militia has also been announced but it is "unclear" whether it will hold, said CNN.

An AFP photographer counted 15 bodies on the street in the centre of Sweida today after government forces pulled out. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said more than 370 people have been killed in sectarian clashes in the city since Sunday.

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.

Syrian troops are trying to intervene in sectarian violence in the south between the Druze minority and Bedouins.