JERUSALEM/DAMASCUS - Israel said it carried out a warning strike against an extremist group that was preparing to attack Druze in Syria, following through on its pledge to protect the minority group as violence spread in Druze areas near Damascus on Wednesday.

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 itself confronting the new Islamist-led government amid military intervention by Israel.