Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Nusra Front terrorist group claimed on Monday the responsibility for massacres committed against dozens of Syrian residents in the east rural villages of Homs in central Syria.

Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Nusra Front terrorist group claimed on Monday the responsibility for massacres committed against dozens of Syrian residents in the east rural villages of Homs in central Syria.

In a released statement, Al-Nusra Front said the attacks come as part of what it called "a series of invasions of 'an Eye for an Eye'," admitting the killing of more than thirty citizens in the villages of Maksar al-Hasan and Jeb al-Jirah al-Masoudiya.

Al-Manar TV correspondent visited the Maksar al-Hsan village and reported mosques vandalized and copies of the holy Quran burned by armed groups active under Al-Nusra Front.

"Terrorists entered into the village while chanting 'Allah is the Greatest'. They beheaded 17 people," one resident told Al-Manar.

Peaceful villages of eastern Homs suffer the threat of repeated attacks by the terrorist takfiri groups who are working to provoke sectarian strife in the area.

Syria was hit by a violent unrest since mid-March 2011, where the Syrian government accuses foreign actors of orchestrating the conflict by supporting the militant opposition groups with arms and money.