Up to 30 members of the Syrian regime military forces have been killed in armed clashes with gunmen of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant in Homs in central Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement on Wednesday.
The monitor reported fierce fighting between the foes in the region around Shaer gas field, situated in the east of Homs' rural regions, adding that the ISIL militants seized three gas wells.
This region witnessed heavy fighting between the two sides, last July, when the regime forces reportedly suffered 350 deaths.
The bloody conflict in Syria has been ongoing since early spring of 2011. The unrest began within the context of the "Arab Spring" protests, with nationwide demonstrations against President Bashar al-Assad's government, whose forces responded with violent crackdowns.
The strife has reportedly claimed more than 190,000 deaths and left large inhabited regions in ruins, due to the ferocious fighting with various automatic guns and heavy-caliber weapons, including artillery, rockets and locally-improved explosives-laden barrels dropped by the regime aircraft on the opposition strongholds.