Khalidi and Maya Gebeily DAMASCUS/BEIRUT (Reuters) -Syria's government misread how Israel would respond to its troops deploying to the country's south this week, encouraged by U.S. messaging that Syria should be governed as a centralized state,

Damascus believed it had tacit approval to restore control in Sweida; Israeli airstrikes followed reports of troop abuses, as U.S. mediation helped broker a limited ceasefire.

The U.S. envoy to Syria announced on Friday that the country and Israel reached a ceasefire deal. “We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity in peace and prosperity with its neighbors,