The army troops raided the hideouts of the rebels in the areas of al-Ken, al-Shaer, Jazel, Rahoum and al-Msheirfa in the city of al-Rastan in Homs, killing scores of them.

Syria has been the scene of insurgency since 2011 when certain western powers and their regional allies voiced loudly that Syrian protests have no diplomatic solution and they started supplying the country's opposition groups with their arms and funds.

In 2014, specially after victory of President Bashar al-Assad in the country's presidential election, the army has gained upper hand in its anti-terrorism campaign, and has been partly successful in sealing borders with Turkey and Jordan.