DAMASCUS (Reuters) -Hundreds of Bedouin civilians were evacuated from Syria's predominantly Druze city of Sweida on Monday as part of a U.S.-backed truce meant to end fighting that has killed hundreds of people, state media and witnesses said.

The Syrian government has started evacuating Bedouin families trapped inside the majority-Druze city of Sweida, where Druze militiamen and Bedouin fighters have clashed for over a week, killing hundreds and threatening to unravel the country’s fragile postwar transition.