BEIRUT: Daesh has expanded its presence in central Syria, seizing control of a town that lies near a highway leading to the capital, Damascus, activists and the group said Sunday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said after intensive clashes with government troops, Daesh forces captured Mahin in the central province of Homs on Sunday and were now pushing their way northwest toward the majority-Christian town of Sadad. The town is home to Syria’s Assyrian Christian minority and the ancient language of Aramaic is still spoken there.

Mahin is 25 km east of the highway that links the central province to Damascus. The town also houses a large military complex and arms depots— and was scene of intense clashes between government troops and Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria in 2013 before the government recaptured it.

The capture of Mahin, and the push toward Sadad, marks a new advance of the Daesh group in central Syria.

The group’s strongholds lie in northern and eastern Syria; but the group has, as recently as May, established a presence in Homs, seizing the ancient city of Palmyra and then another village to the west.

The new IS expansion comes despite concerted Russian airstrikes in Syria, which Moscow says target Daesh and other terrorist groups. For the most part, the Russian airstrikes, in their fifth week, have targeted Western-backed rebel groups and other radical groups.