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,

The leaders of Israel and Syria have agreed to a ceasefire days after major Israeli strikes​, a U.S. envoy said Friday, as he urged all sides in war-torn Syria to lay down arms.

A Bedouin fighter holds a weapon as he stands along a street in the Suwayda governorate, Syria, on [Karam al-Masri/Reuters] Syria and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire, US ambassador to Turkiye, Tom Barrack,