As tensions between Syria’s Druze and Bedouin fighters escalate, Israel conducted its first airstrike in the Syrian city of Sweida after the withdrawal of Syrian government forces from the province

"If Israel feels that a certain leader...is an evident threat to its national security, it will operate," a former Israeli envoy told Newsweek.

After five days of hunkering down at his home in the southern city of Sweida, 33-year-old Hossam emerged on Thursday and drove around to survey the damage. Wherever he went, the smell of death lingered.

Syria said that its army had begun to withdraw from violence-hit Sweida following a wave of Israeli strikes on the capital and a US call for forces to leave.

The death toll from the violence in southern Syria's Sweida province continues to climb, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, reporting at least 516 deaths since fighting erupted on July 13.

Vantage with Palki Sharma | N18G Syria’s war may have faded from headlines, but in Sweida, violence has erupted once again — this time killing over 100, mostly from the Druze community. A tribal feud between Druze and Bedouins spiralled into a deadly confrontation,

Syrian troops pulled out of the Druze heartland province of Sweida Thursday on orders from the Islamist-led government, leaving bodies strewn on the street, AFP journalists reported from the provincia

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war monitor, said the clashes started after members of a Bedouin tribe in Sweida province set up a checkpoint where they attacked and robbed a Druze man, leading to tit-for-tat attacks and kidnappings between the tribes and Druze armed groups.