This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Alex Ritson, and in the early hours of Sunday the 20th of July, these are our main stories.

As we record this podcast, Damascus says it has halted sectarian clashes in southern Syria by deploying troops.

But there are signs it is still struggling to enforce a ceasefire.

More than 30 people have died in Vietnam

where a tourist boat has capsized in a storm at sea.

The M23 rebels have agreed a ceasefire with government forces in eastern Congo.

Also in this podcast,

Tell them, tell them we are more than numbers,

more than silent echoes in a ledger of loss.

We are families entwined in love, friends,

living in the shadows of our hoops bound by dreams.

We hear from the young poets of Gaza.

As we record this podcast, Syria's Interior Ministry has said that sectarian clashes have been

stopped in the southern city of Sweda and that the area has been cleared of Bedouin fighters following the

deployment of government soldiers. This follows nearly a week of violence between Bedwin tribesmen

and the minority Druze community. More than 900 people are believed to have been killed in the

wider province of Sweda. Government forces claim to be attempting to enforce a fragile ceasefire.

Earlier on Saturday, John Donelson sent this report from Damascus.

This morning, in and around Zawada, it didn't feel much like a ceasefire.

Bedwin tribesmen in running gun battles with fighters from the minority Drew's community,

which have left hundreds of people dead.

...