Syria’s military entered a stronghold for the Druze minority in the country’s south on Tuesday to “pursue outlaw groups,” the government said, prompting Israel to launch strikes against the forces dispatched by Damascus.

At least 30 people have been killed in armed clashes between Sunni Bedouin tribal fighters and Druze militias in southern Syria, the country's interior ministry says. The violence erupted in the predominantly Druze city in the province of Suweida on Sunday, two days after a Druze merchant was reportedly abducted on the highway to Damascus.

Clashes between Druze militias and Sunni Bedouin clans in Syria's Sweida province have killed more than 30 people and injured nearly 100