The attack follows a wave of Israeli strikes on Syrian government forces during two days of sectarian clashes between local Druze and Bedouin populations.

Residents from the Syrian-Druze city of Sweida described friends and neighbors being shot at close range in their homes or on the streets. One elderly man had been shot in the head in his living room.

Israel continues to bomb Syria, ostensibly to support Druze forces in the southwest, even after ceasefire is declared.

As alarming sectarian violence swept through Syria in the third week of July, Christian communities in the region experienced a new wave of persecution. Attacks on the country's Christian, Druze and Alawite communities were perpetrated mainly by Islamist jihadists.

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.

Syria’s defense minister has announced a ceasefire after government forces entered a key city in Sweida province on Tuesday.

At least 30 people were killed and around 100 were injured in sectarian violence that exploded in Syria's southernmost As-Suwayda Governorate, the Middle Eastern country's Ministry of Interior said Monday morning.

Israel says it is intervening to protect Syria’s Druze residents who have strong ties to Israel’s Druze community. Damascus called the attack a violation of sovereignty.

Israel launched massive airstrikes in Damascus, Syria, as a response to apparent attacks against the Druze minorities in Sweida. Lina Sinjab with BBC News, a CBS News partner, has more.