More than 80 killed in violent clashes in predominantly Druze Syrian city

Israel's military on Monday said it struck several tanks in the Sweida province of southern Syria, where dozens have been killed in clashes between Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze fighters.

The military struck "several tanks a short while ago in the area of Sami village (in the Sweida region) in southern Syria. To be continued," the military's Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X.

At least 89 people have been killed in ongoing clashes between Syrian Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin tribes, a monitor said, as security forces were deployed to quell the violence.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that "46 Druze fighters, four civilians from Sweida, 18 Bedouin fighters, 14 security personnel, and seven unidentified individuals in military uniform were among the dead".

Syria's interior ministry said it would deploy troops in coordination with the defence ministry.

Those troops "will begin direct intervention in the area to resolve the conflict, stop the clashes, impose security, pursue those responsible for the incidents, and refer them to the competent judiciary," an interior ministry statement said.

Syrian state-run media outlet SANA earlier said the security forces had deployed on the administrative borders between Daraa and Sweida provinces in light of the situation.

Sweida Governor Mustapha al-Bakur called on his constituents to "exercise self-restraint and respond to national calls for reform".

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Several Syrian Druze spiritual leaders have also called for calm and asked Damascus to intervene.

Due to the violence, the education ministry announced the postponement of Sweida's official secondary school exams due on Monday to a future date.

Syria's pre-civil war Druze population numbered around 700,000, with Sweida province home to the sect's largest community.

Bedouin and Druze factions have a longstanding feud in Sweida, and violence occasionally erupts between the two.

Read moreSyria after Assad: Journey through a war-ravaged nation in transition

The interior ministry said the violence was "the result of unfortunate armed clashes that broke out between local military groups and clans... against a backdrop of accumulated tensions over previous periods".

Since the overthrow of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, concerns have been raised over the rights and safety of minorities under the new Islamist authorities, who have also struggled to re-establish security more broadly.

Clashes between the new security forces and Druze fighters in April and May killed dozens of people, with local leaders and religious figures signing agreements to contain the escalation and better integrate Druze fighters into the new government.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)