U.S. Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said early Saturday that Israel and Syria had agreed to a cease-fire, following Israel’s intervention this week in fighting between Syrian government forces and

Israel has threatened to increase its involvement in Syria and vowed to protect the Druze religious minority, which began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam, the Associated Press reported. Most of the world’s Druze population lives in Syria, with the rest predominantly in Israel and Lebanon.