The Syrian city ravaged by sectarian violence - where bodies line streets and homes are burned

Warning: This article contains details that some people may find disturbing.

Large sections of the city seemed to be on fire as we entered the besieged, mainly Druze, city. There were multiple buildings, homes, flats, shops and businesses ravaged by flames.

We saw marauding groups of Arab tribal fighters breaking into homes and setting them alight. Others were spotted loading up vehicles with all sorts of goods.

One vehicle had a gaggle of geese on board. Others were stocked up with shrubbery. Yet more had mattresses, cupboards and fridges.

The new president sent his security forces down to the southern city to try to prevent yet more Arab tribal fighters from entering.

But early on in the day, we spotted large convoys of armed men pushing their way through the few checkpoints.

We did not see any government forces inside the centre while we were there, and they seemed to keep mainly to the outskirts.

Inside the centre, there were continuing fierce battles for most of the day, between Druze militia led by cleric Hikmat al Hajiri and the Arab fighters supporting their Bedouin brethren.

One Druze woman was shot by a sniper while she stood on her balcony.

Her face was covered in blood, but somehow she survived despite a bullet going straight through one side of her jaw and out the other. She had also been hit on her shoulder and one arm.

She was brought to a field hospital outside the city for treatment by Bedouin fighters. She said she had no idea which of the battling factions was responsible for shooting her.

Two humanitarian corridors are being created to allow the estimated 30,000 trapped civilians to exit.

A fleet of coaches with White Helmets flags flying has been sent to the perimeter of the city to prepare for civilians to come out.

The new president addressed the nation earlier in the day, urging calm and promising to stem the violence.

His words of reassurance and inclusivity for all ethnic groups in Syria are failing to persuade some of the minority Druze and Arab Bedouin groups to lay down their arms.

How the sectarian clashes are resolved is likely to determine how successful his presidency is, and tens of thousands of lives are dependent on him finding a solution quickly.

A civil war raged in Syria for nearly 14 years before Bashar al Assad was ousted in December last year. Ahmad al Sharaa, who led Islamist rebels who overthrew the authoritarian leader, became the country's interim president in a transition that was initially mostly peaceful.

But a few months later, government forces clashed with pro-Assad armed groups on Syria’s coast, spurring sectarian attacks that killed hundreds of civilians from the Alawite religious minority to which the former president belongs. The violence left other minority groups, including the Druze in the south, and the Kurds in the northeast, increasingly mistrustful of the new government and worried whether it would protect them.

Deadly clashes broke out last Sunday in the southern province of Sweida between Druze - a religious sect with roots in Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam - militias and local Sunni Muslim Bedouin tribes. Government forces intervened, ostensibly to restore order, but ended up trying to wrest control of Sweida from the Druze factions that control it, with hundreds killed in the fighting.

Israel intervened on behalf of the Druze, who are seen as a loyal minority within Israel and often serve in its military, striking government targets in Damascus and Sweida. By Wednesday, a truce had been negotiated, allowing Druze factions to maintain security in Sweida as government forces pulled out, although fighting between Druze and Bedouin forces continued.

US special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack announced a separate ceasefire had been brokered between Israel and Syria on Saturday, hours before Syria’s internal security forces began deploying to Sweida.

By early morning Sunday, the Syrian government said its forces had cleared the city of Arab tribal fighters, a development confirmed by several tribal leaders.

-SKY NEWS