Armed Bedouin clans in Syria have withdrawn from the southern city of Sweida after over a week of deadly clashes.

An American citizen from Oklahoma was killed along with six male relatives during the sectarian violence that erupted last week in Syria

Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa's government responded by deploying forces to the city. Druze residents of Suweida told the BBC they had witnessed "barbaric acts" as gunmen - government forces and foreign fighters - attacked people. Israel targeted these forces, saying they were acting to protect the Druze.

Hosam Saraya, an American-Syrian citizen from Oklahoma, appeared to be gunned down by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government forces last week.

Tens of thousands of people remained displaced by the violence and the United Nations has been unable to bring in much-needed humanitarian and medical aid because of ongoing clashes.

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

Clashes between Druze militias and Sunni Arab tribes have continued and grown after Syrian Army forces withdrew from the predominantly Druze governorate of Suwayda on July 16.

Government forces that were initially sent to restore order but effectively sided with the Bedouins against the Druze were redeployed to halt renewed fighting that erupted Thursday in the southern province of Sweida. The violence also drew airstrikes against Syrian forces by neighboring Israel before a truce was reached.

In this whirl of shrapnel and shellfire, hopes for a new era of peace in a nation long torn apart by dictatorship and a 14-year civil war are quickly fading. Instead, Syria appears on the brink of being dragged into yet another civil and international conflict.