Israel said it carried out a strike in Syria against "an extremist group" that attacked members of the Druze community, following through on a promise to defend the minority group as deadly sectarian violence spread near Damascus on Wednesday.

Sectarian violence has erupted again in Syria, raising fresh doubt on the ability of the new Islamist rulers to control armed factions and calm tensions.

Syria’s small Druze community largely kept out of the country’s long civil war but since president Bashar al-Assad’s ouster in December it has found