Hundreds of people have been killed in days of violence in southern Syria which began with clashes between members of the Druze minority group and Bedouin tribes and drew a military intervention from Syria.

Syria should not be allowed back into the international community unless it is able to uphold protections for the Druze and its other minority groups, Israel has said.

The government of Syria confirmed on Saturday that it had struck a ceasefire agreement with Israel to end a conflict that erupted in the south of the country earlier this week and killed hundreds of people. The deal appears to permit Syrian government forces, which had been withdrawn on Wednesday, to redeploy in the area.