Dr Talat Amer, a surgeon at Sweida National Hospital in southern Syria, worked tirelessly for three days as bombs fell and the building came under siege from government and militia forces.

Syria's Islamist-led government struggled to implement a ceasefire in the predominantly Druze region of Sweida on Saturday, with machinegun fire and mortar shelling ringing out after days of bloodshed.

Hundreds of Druze from Israel pushed across the border in solidarity with their Syrian cousins they feared were under attack. Many then met relatives they had never seen before.

At the center of a crisis in Syria are the Druze — a secretive religious minority that long carved out a precarious identity across Syria, Lebanon and Israel.

As a fragile ceasefire holds in southern Syria following deadly clashes, a Syrian Druze writer in exile Sarah Hunaidi tells CNN it’s a “horrible situation” on the ground, as food supplies run low and hospitals remain out of service.

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 United States said it did not support recent Israeli strikes on Syria and had made clear its displeasure, while Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa accused Israel of trying to fracture his country.