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.

After a week of violence that killed hundreds of people, the Syrian government reported that clashes in the southern city of Suwayda have stopped.

Members of the Syrian American community in Portland are mourning the loss of loved ones following violent clashes in southern Syria that have left the city of Sweida in turmoil. The violence erupted on July 14,

Israel carried out strikes against Syrian government forces in southwestern Syria for a second day on Tuesday, vowing to keep the area demilitarized and to protect the Druze minority as deadly clashes continued in the region at the Israeli frontier.

Clashes between Syrian government forces and Druze armed groups have escalated, drawing Israeli intervention and raising fears of a breakdown in the country’s fragile postwar order.

About 30,000 mostly Druze people are thought to be trapped inside the besieged city of Sweida and surrounding towns, with no electricity, little internet and dwindling supplies of food and water.