Four suicide car bombs have reportedly struck Syrian regime targets, on Wednesday in the Qalamoun region near Lebanon, killing at least seven soldiers while five others are in critical condition.

The attacks has come a day after troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad made gains in the Qalamoun area north of Damascus.

The attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Al-Nusra Front, two Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups, came after rebels were driven out of nearby Qara village on Tuesday, source said.

According to report, the soldiers at the checkpoint in Nabek stopped a suspicious car and the driver, who was a suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt, tried to escape but was shot dead by soldiers,” the source said.

The vehicle however exploded, the source added, saying there had been victims.

Meanwhile, there are other reports that two suicide attacks also happened in front of the Bassel hospital in Deir Attiya, a majority Christian town in army control north of Nabek.

“Several guards were killed, then the terrorists broke into the hospital and tried to destroy the equipment but the army managed to chase them down,” source said.

Fighting raged elsewhere in Qalamoun, mainly around the rebel bastion of Yabrud, which the army shelled Wednesday, and Deir Attiya.

Warplanes launched air strikes on rebel positions around Deir Attiya, according to a local media report.

The army had earlier said it was hunting jihadists across the region, while rebels vowed to return to Qara.

An estimated 120,000 people have been killed in Syria’s uprising, which began with peaceful protests against Assad in March 2011 but escalated into a full-blown insurgency after his troops launched a brutal crackdown.