The Druze religious sect, enmeshed in an outbreak of tit-for-tat violence in Syria, began roughly 1,000 years ago as an offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam.

Dr Talat Amer, a surgeon at Sweida National Hospital in southern Syria, worked tirelessly for three days as bombs fell and the building came under siege from government and militia forces.

Members of Syria's Druze community are searching for loved ones and counting their dead after days of clashes in a southern province that left bloodied bodies of civilians on the streets and homes looted.

Scores of people have been killed in Syria's southern governorate of Suwayda after clashes began between local Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze armed factions. A ceasefire agreement was announced Wednesday after neighbouring Israel launched strikes on Syrian military forces,

Syria's Islamist-led government struggled to implement a ceasefire in the predominantly Druze region of Sweida on Saturday, with machinegun fire and mortar shelling ringing out after days of bloodshed.

Syria's Druze are concentrated in the southwest in the Sweida region bordering Jordan and in areas of Quneitra province, near the occupied Golan. They also reside in the Damascus

Israeli military responds to protect Syrian Druze from Islamist militants as local Druze citizens cross the border to aid their brethren, prompting concerns from Israeli officials.

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

Tom Barrack, who is the US ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria and is aiding ceasefire talks, said the deal had the backing of Turkey, a key supporter of Syria’s interim president, as well as neighbouring Jordan.