US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that he believes the recent surge of violence in Syria will “end tonight”.
Mr Rubio called the situation, which involves Syrian government forces, Bedouins, the Druze community and Israel, "complex".
"These are historic, long-time rivalries between different groups in the south-west of Syria," he told reporters. "And it led to an unfortunate situation and a misunderstanding, it looks like, between the Israeli side and the Syrian side."
In a post on X, he called the situation in Syria "troubling and horrifying".
Syrian government forces and their militia allies have been engaged in an offensive over the past several days in the mostly Druze governorate of Sweida.
Israel regards itself as the traditional protector of the Druze, members of a religious offshoot of Islam with communities spread across the region. In response to the Syrian government's actions in Sweida, the Israeli military launched strikes at Damascus on Wednesday, hitting the Ministry of Defence building, the presidential palace and other sites.
The Syrian government has announced a halt to its military offensive in Sweida.
Washington has been involved in a diplomatic rush to ease the situation in the region and Mr Rubio said he had spoken with all parties involved.
“We have engaged all the parties involved in the clashes in Syria,” he said on X. “We have agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight. This will require all parties to deliver on the commitments they have made and this is what we fully expect them to do.”
It was unclear exactly what were the “specific steps” to which Mr Rubio was referring.
