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, survivors emerged on Thursday to collect and bury the scores of dead found across the city.

"We will not allow military forces to move south of Damascus, and we will not allow harm to come to the Druze in Jabal al-Druze," the prime minister said.

Druze leader Youssef Jarbu'a confirmed the regime’s claim that a ceasefire had been reached. However, shelling and gunfire continued in various parts of the Druze-majority province

Hundreds of Druze from Israel pushed across the border in solidarity with their Syrian cousins they feared were under attack. Many then met relatives never seen before.

Syrian government forces largely pulled out of the southern province of Sweida on Thursday after days of clashes with militias linked to the Druze minority that threatened to unravel the country's post-war transition.

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

Israel struck Syria’s military headquarters in Damascus on Wednesday and moved more troops to the border area in a bid, officials said, to prevent attacks against the Syrian Druze community.

Israel's military struck the Syrian defence ministry in Damascus and government forces in southern Syria on Wednesday, as deadly sectarian fighting in the mostly Druze province of Suweida continued for a fourth day.