Hundreds of people demonstrated in Syria's southern city of Sweida on Saturday in the largest protests since last month's deadly clashes in the area demanding that they be given the right of self determination.

Some of the protesters waved Israeli flags to thank Israel for intervening on their side during heavy clashes in mid-July between militias of the Druze minority community and armed tribal groups and government forces.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Syrian war monitor, said the protesters expressed their rejection of the interim central government in Damascus demanding that those responsible for atrocities against Druze be brought to justice.

The Observatory added that some of the protesters called on Israel to intervene to support their demand of self determination.

The Druze religious sect began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam.

Over half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria.

Most other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981.

Rayyan Maarouf, who heads the activist media collective Suwayda 24, said Saturday's demonstrations in Sweida were the largest since last months clashes.

He added that it was the first time they were held under the slogan of self-determination.

Maarouf said it was an unprecedented change for the Druze in Syria, adding that in addition to the demonstration in Sweida city, there were similar gatherings in areas including the nearby towns of Shahba and Salkhad.

The days-long clashes first broke out on July 13, between Druze militias and local Sunni Muslim Bedouin tribes in Sweida.

Government forces then intervened, nominally to restore order, but ended up essentially siding with the Bedouins against the Druze.

Israel intervened in defence of the Druze, launching dozens of airstrikes on convoys of government fighters and even striking the Syrian Defence Ministry headquarters in central Damascus.

Atrocities were committed during the clashes that left hundreds of people dead.

The clashes were among the worst since the fall of President Bashar Assad's government in December.

The government last month set up a committee tasked with investigating attacks on civilians during the sectarian violence in the country’s south, which is supposed to issue a report within three months.

AP production by Ali Sharafeddine