A powerful car bomb exploded Friday outside a mosque in a pro-government district of central Syria, killing 14 people in the latest violence to hit the war-shattered city, state-run Syrian television reported.

The old neighborhoods of Homs, a city often referred to as the capital of the revolution, is the last major stronghold for rebels in central Syria, and the fight to take it underscores how emboldened Syrian forces have become in opposition-held areas, bolstered by fighters from the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

Activists say more than 150,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict since it began in March 2011 with largely peaceful protests calling for Assad's ouster.

The Islamic State rejected his orders that the Nusra Front take the lead among Islamic fighters in Syria.

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