SYRIAN forces launched a major offensive in Homs province yesterday morning, liberating two villages from Islamic extremists in the first hours.

Troops went into action north of the the eponymous provincial capital where the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and other groups occupy a pocket of territory.

“At 5.30am our army began a large-scale operation in the north of the Homs governorate,” a military source told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.