DUBAI, July 18. /TASS/. The United States is putting pressure on Israel to help de-escalate the situation in the province of Al-Suwayda in southern Syria and to allow the deployment of the security forces of Syria’s interim government to this region, Sky News Arabia TV channel reported, citing a source.

"Washington continues to support [Syrian President for the transitional period Ahmed] al-Sharaa and is putting pressure on Israel to stop interfering in [the situation] to reach agreements that will put an end to this crisis," the source said. According to the source, the United States is participating in negotiations aimed at agreeing on the deployment of security forces of the Syrian transitional government in the province of Al-Suwayda, where clashes between Arab tribes and Druze continued on Friday.

State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said earlier that the parties had agreed to take measures to de-escalate the situation in Syria by the end of the day. According to The Times of Israel newspaper, Israel is ready to agree to a limited presence of Syrian security forces in Al-Suwayda for 48 hours, although earlier it said it would not allow the presence of Damascus' armed forces in the region.

The situation in southern Syria escalated on July 13, when clashes broke out in Al-Suwayda between Arab tribal militias and Druze self-defense units. On July 15, the Syrian army entered the administrative center of the region of the same name and began cleansing. Shortly after, Israel began attacking military convoys of the Syrian army, explaining this as a desire to protect the Druze population of the province, and on July 16 it attacked several strategic facilities in Damascus. On the evening of July 16, the Defense Ministry of the Syrian transitional government withdrew all military personnel from the city of Suwayda under a ceasefire agreement.