Secretary of State Rubio says the U.S. is "very concerned" by expanding Israeli strikes targeting Syria's new government, and he wants "the fighting to stop."

The Syrian government says clashes in the southern city of Suwayda have stopped after a week of violence left hundreds of people dead, drawing Israeli intervention and US condemnation.

That understanding was based on comments from the U.S. special envoy and security talks with Israel, sources said.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the Damascus headquarters served as a command center for deploying regime forces to Suwayda, a southern Syrian region gripped by days of deadly clashes between government troops, Druze militias, and Bedouin groups.

Syrian troops are trying to intervene in sectarian violence in the south between the Druze minority and Bedouins. Israel said its strikes were to protect the Druze.

Syria's Sweida province has been engulfed by nearly a week of violence triggered by clashes between Bedouin fighters and Druze factions. Earlier on Friday, an Israeli official said Israel agreed to allow Syrian forces limited access to the Sweida area of southern Syria for the next two days.

Israel carried out a series of powerful strikes on the Syrian capital Damascus Wednesday, escalating a campaign it says is in support of an Arab minority group involved in deadly clashes with Syrian government forces.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it looked like a "misunderstanding" after Israel struck Syria's defense ministry.

Members of Syrian security forces walk on a road in Sweida countryside, as vehicles transporting other Syrian security forces make their way out of the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, July 16,

Hundreds of people have been killed in days of violence in southern Syria which began with clashes between members of the Druze minority group and Bedouin tribes and drew a military intervention from Syria.