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.

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,

About 500 people killed in clashes, according to UK war monitor; AFP photographer counts 15 bodies strewn in city center amid looted shops and burned cars and houses

Clashes that shook southern Syria this week have killed hundreds of people, including civilians, and drawn in an array of both local and international players, harking back to the dynamics of the country's nearly 14-year civil war.

Syria's Druze have reached a ceasefire agreement with the Syrian government in Sweida that will take immediate effect, Druze religious leader Sheikh Yousef Jarbou said in a video broadcast by state media on Wednesday.

Syrian troops pulled out of the Druze heartland province of Sweida on orders from the Islamist-led government, following days of deadly clashes that killed more than 500 people, according to

In Syria's Druze city of Sweida, sectarian violence has led to numerous deaths, with government forces clashing with Druze militia. The violence worsened after the government's arrival, deepening distrust of the Islamist-led government in Damascus.

Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa accused Israel of trying to fracture Syria and promised to protect its Druze minority on Thursday after U.S. intervention to help achieve a truce in fighting between government forces and Druze fighters.