Israel has struck military tanks in southern Syria, where government forces and Bedouin tribes clash with Druze militias.

Israel carried out strikes against Syrian government forces in southern Syria, saying it was acting to protect the Druze minority.

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.

Secretary of State Rubio says the U.S. is "very concerned" by expanding Israeli strikes targeting Syria's new government, and he wants "the fighting to stop."

That afternoon, Netanyahu and Katz ordered the Israeli military to once again attack government forces and weaponry in Suweida. They said they were working to prevent them from harming the Druze and to "ensure the demilitarisation" of areas near Israel's border.

Several days of bitter sectarian fighting in the south of Syria has brought the fledgling government in Damascus dangerously close to direct conflict with Israel, after Israeli warplanes launched strikes against government buildings in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on July 16.

A U.S.-backed ceasefire appeared to be holding in Syria on Sunday, after deadly violence rocked the region, when hundreds of people were killed in the city of Suwayda. The violence marks the biggest challenge yet to the new government in Damascus that toppled Bashar al-Assad in December.

Violence between government forces and armed factions of a religious minority in southern Syria has deepened divisions in a country still recuperating from a civil war.