"In a fierce assault that began by detonating two suicide car bombs, Islamic State militants took the town of Maheen in the southwest of Homs province from government forces, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Some 50 fighters on the government side were killed or wounded, and clashes raged afterwards on the outskirts of a mostly Christian town nearby, Sadad, it said. Islamic State issued a statement claiming the advance, which brought it within 20 km (13 miles) of the north-south highway linking Damascus to Syria's other main cities Homs, Hama and Aleppo. Syrian state media made no mention of the attack.
The Observatory's Rami Abdulrahman said the attack might have been a response to pressures the group is under elsewhere." (thanks Basim)
