WASHINGTON, July 20, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday called on the Syrian government's security forces to prevent jihadists from entering and "carrying out massacres" in the conflict-stricken south of the country.

"If authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive and peaceful Syria... they must help end this calamity by using their security forces to prevent ISIS and any other violent jihadists from entering the area and carrying out massacres," Rubio said in a statement posted to X, using another name for the Islamic State group (IS).

Sectarian clashes between armed Bedouin forces and the Druze in the community's Sweida heartland had drawn in Syria's Islamist-led government, Israel and other armed tribes.

US-brokered negotiations have sought to avert further Israeli military intervention, with Syrian forces agreeing to withdraw from the region.

"The US has remained heavily involved over the last three days with Israel, Jordan and authorities in Damascus on the horrifying & dangerous developments in southern Syria," Rubio said.

He called for the Syrian government to "hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks."

"Furthermore the fighting between Druze and Bedouin groups inside the perimeter must also stop immediately," Rubio added.

Once in control of large swathes of Syria, the IS was territorially defeated in Syria in 2019 largely due to the efforts of Kurdish-led forces supported by an international coalition.

Violence between the Druze and Bedouin groups that began on July 13 has left an estimated 940 dead, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor.

The count included 326 Druze fighters and 262 Druze civilians, 165 of whom were summarily executed, according to the Observatory.

The monitor also included 312 government security personnel and 21 Sunni Bedouin in the toll.