Under Israeli bombardment and diplomatic pressure, Ahmed al-Sharaa pulled troops from Syria's Druze heartland -- a move that exposes the interim leader's weakness just as he sought to assert control.
Since seizing office in December after ousting longtime autocrat Bashar al-Assad, Sharaa has worked to recast himself from jihadist to statesman, even earning praise from US President Donald Trump as a "tough guy".
Armed tribes supported by Syria's Islamist-led government clashed with Druze fighters outside Sweida Friday a day after government troops withdrew from the Druze-majority city, the warring parties and a monitoring group said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported "clashes west of Sweida pitting tribal fighters and Bedouin supported by the authorities on one side, against Druze fighters on the other".
Combatants on both sides confirmed the clashes and AFP correspondents reported hearing exchanges of fire.
By Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA (Reuters) -The head of the United Nations human rights office called on Friday for Syria's interim authorities to ensure accountability and justice for killings and rights violations in the southern city of Sweida.
Syria's government sent troops this week to the predominantly Druze city to quell fighting between Bedouins and Druze, but the violence grew until a ceasefire was declared.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said it had received credible reports of widespread rights violations during the fighting.
BEIRUT (Reuters) -Syrian security forces are preparing to redeploy to the Druze-majority Sweida city to quell fighting with Bedouin tribes, a Syrian interior ministry spokesperson said on Friday, further straining a fragile truce in Syria's south.
A ceasefire announced on Wednesday briefly ended days of bloody fighting that erupted when Bedouin and Druze fighters clashed in Sweida province, prompting the Syrian government to send in troops - further spiking violence.
US aviation giant Boeing on Thursday signed a contract worth billions of dollars to sell 12 787 Dreamliners, with options for six more, to Gulf Air, as the Bahrain-based carrier looks to expand its global network.
The order comes one month after an Air India Boeing 787 crashed shortly after takeoff, killing a total of 260 people on the plane and on the ground.
"Once finalized, this order will bring the carrier's firm order book to 14 of the versatile wide-body jets and will support 30,000 jobs across the US," the companies said in a joint statement.
By John Irish
PARIS (Reuters) -France, Britain and Germany told Iran on Thursday that they wanted Tehran to resume diplomacy immediately over its nuclear programme and warned if there were no concrete steps by the end of the summer they would restore U.N. sanctions.
The foreign ministers of the so-called E3, along with the European Union's foreign policy chief, held their first call with Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi since Israel and the United States carried out air strikes in mid-June on Iran's nuclear programme.
(Reuters) -Leaders of ethnically split Cyprus have agreed to continue discussions towards confidence building, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday, in a dispute which has kept NATO partners Greece and Turkey at odds for decades.
The Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities will press ahead with attempts to open new crossing points between the two sides and cooperating on solar energy initiatives, Guterres said after hosting the Cypriot leaders at U.N. headquarters in New York.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Qatar, Egypt and the U.S. presented Israel and Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas with an updated Gaza ceasefire proposal on Wednesday, Axios reported on Thursday, citing two sources.
The two main updates in the latest proposal had to do with the scope of the Israeli military's withdrawal from Gaza during a ceasefire and the ratio of Palestinian prisoners to be released for each Israeli hostage, Axios reported.
By Steve Holland and Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -\U.S. President Donald Trump called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a deadly Israeli strike on Gaza's sole Catholic Church, the White House said on Thursday, adding Trump did not react positively to the incident.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
An Israeli strike on Gaza's sole Catholic Church killed three people and injured several others, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which oversees the small parish, said on Thursday.
By Humeyra Pamuk
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States did not support recent Israeli strikes on Syria, the State Department said on Thursday, adding that Washington made clear its displeasure after tensions escalated and worked quickly to stop it.
On Wednesday, Israel launched airstrikes in Damascus, while also hitting government forces in the south, demanding they withdraw and saying Israel aimed to protect Syrian Druze - part of a small but influential minority that also has followers in Lebanon and Israel.
