Ammon News - Syria's Defense Minister announced a ceasefire shortly after government forces entered a key city in Sweida province on Tuesday.

The announcement came a day after sectarian clashes that killed dozens, and after a state-run news agency report that Israel had launched a strike in the area.

Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra said in a statement that after an “agreement with the city’s notables and dignitaries, we will respond only to the sources of fire and deal with any targeting by outlaw groups.”

The clashes began with a series of tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks between members of local Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze armed factions in the southern province, a center of the Druze community.

Government security forces that were sent in on Monday to restore order also clashed with Druze armed groups. During the day, Israel struck Syrian government military tank and said it was acting to protect the Druze religious minority.

Syria's news agency SANA did not give any details about Tuesday’s strike. However, the Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Israel struck a tank belonging to the Syrian military as forces began to move in deeper into Sweida city. There was no immediate statement from the Israeli military. AP