In a hardening of his rhetoric against Syria’s southern neighbour, Mr Sharaa accused Israel of seeking to foment “endless chaos”. He said Syria faced a choice between “open war with the Israeli entity” or handing security in the Sweida province over to factions from the country’s Druze minority.

Syria's defense minister has announced a ceasefire just hours after government forces entered a key city in the volatile Sweida province.

A surge in sectarian violence in southern Syria and Israeli airstrikes reaching central Damascus have pushed the war‑scarred country into a volatile juncture, a senior UN official said on Thursday, warning that renewed violence could shatter prospects for peace and fuel wider regional instability.

In his speech, Sharaa accused Israel of trying to drag the country into chaos after it launched airstrikes in Syria, which officials said are meant to defend the Druze minority group. In turn, Israel accused the government of directing fighting against the Druze, a community the Jewish state has pledged to protect.

Syria's defense minister announced a ceasefire shortly after government forces entered a key city in southern Sweida province on Tuesday, a day after sectarian clashes killed dozens there. Neighboring Israel again launched strikes on Syrian military forces,

Clashes between Bedouin tribes, government forces and members of a minority sect in Syria have left dozens dead and once again raised fears of a breakdown in the country's fragile postwar order. The country is deeply divided as it tries to emerge from decades of dictatorship and nearly 14 years of civil war.

Israel launched several deadly airstrikes that targeted Syrian government forces in Sweida. The attack came as sectarian violence flared between Druse fighters and Bedouin tribal groups.

At least 18 members of Syria's security forces have been killed in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, the Defence Ministry said, after they deployed to quell deadly sectarian clashes that had resumed on Monday,