LOCAL residents grabbed weapons and fought side by side with government troops against Isis fighters in Syria’s Sweida province today, following a string of suicide bombings that may have killed over 100 people.

Attackers struck in a number of villages and the number killed was unclear, with news agency Sana saying 38 had died in the bombings themselves. A local health official said after subsequent fighting the death toll had risen to 90.

The southern province is largely populated by the Druze minority, whose beliefs are regarded as heresy by Isis and al-Qaida, both of which have massacred Druze communities during the Syrian war and razed their shrines.