In line with earlier reports, it now transpires that Jabhat al-Nusra has fully captured the village of al-Zara in northern Homs after defeating government troops sometime during yesterday.

The village was manned mainly by locals whom had signed up with the pro-government National Defence Forces (NDF); nevertheless, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) was unable to aid al-Zara prior to the NDF being overwhelmed by the al-Nusra Front.

Meanwhile, the pro-opposition outlet Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said dozens of Alawite civilians had been kidnapped by al-Nusra during the capture.

A spokesman of the Syrian al-Qaeda group said the attack and kidnappings were retaliation for the death of their comrades at Khan Touman and al-Eis, two towns in southern Aleppo which have come under heavy bombardment in the past few days.

Due to the capture of al-Zara, Islamist rebels have now reopened a narrow supply corridor from Kafr Latah & Houla to ar-Rastan & Talbiseh.

Recently, the al-Nusra Front has also purged allied rebel groups in the Homs pocket, even storming their headquarters and taken over some villages.

Despite tensions between rebel groups in Homs, the SAA has not made a major push to reclaim the insurgents-held territories in the province since government forces captured the provincial capital of Homs exactly two years ago.