Four days of clashes between pro-government gunmen and members of a minority sect in Syria have left nearly 100 people dead and raised fears of deadly sectarian violence.

Deadly clashes between Islamist armed factions, security forces and fighters from the Druze religious minority near Damascus are another sign of the continuing fragility of the security situation in Syria after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad.

The Israeli army 'is deployed in southern Syria and is prepared to prevent the entry of hostile forces into the area of Druze villages', the military said in a statement, without specifying whether this was a new deployment or elaborating on the number of troops on the ground.