The United Nations refugee agency expressed concern on Friday about the impact of hostilities in Syria's southern city of Sweida on its aid operations, and urged all sides to allow more humanitarian access.

Syrian forces are preparing redeployment to Sweida as ceasefire collapses, prompting international concern over escalating violence.

Israel's statement on Friday came just days after sectarian violence and Israeli airstrikes in Syria left hundreds dead.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported "clashes west of Sweida pitting tribal fighters and Bedouin supported by the authorities on one side, against Druze fighters on the other". Combatants on both sides confirmed the exchange of fire to AFP correspondents.

ALBAWABA - There were fierce fights in and around the city of Sweida in southern Syria between clan fighters and armed groups that the government called

BEIRUT (Reuters) -One elderly man had been shot in the head in his living room. Another in his bedroom. The body of a woman lay in the street. After days of bloodshed in Syria's Druze city of Sweida, survivors emerged on Thursday to collect and bury the scores of dead found across the city.

The head of the United Nations human rights office called on Friday for Syria's interim authorities to ensure accountability and justice for killings and rights violations in the southern city of Sweida.

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.