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Multiple bomb blasts in Syrian cities kill at least 43

More than 290,000 people have been killed in Syria since March 2011, and millions displaced by the fighting.

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The blasts took place in the morning in the cities of Homs and Tartous and at the entrance to a town west of Damascus, all held by the government, and in Kurdish-held areas in Qamishli and Hasaka in northeastern Syria.

The deadliest blasts hit Tartous, where two explosions hit the Arzouna bridge area at the entrance to the city, killing 35 people.

The Britain-based Observatory, which maintains a network of contacts in Syria, put the overall death toll at 53, although Syrian state TV said 48 were killed.

IS had earlier claimed another attack targeting Kurdish forces in the northeastern city of Hasakeh, and said another bombing targeted Kurdish forces in the nearby city of Qamishli. The IS news agency said the attack targeted a checkpoint manned by Kurdish forces.

The city had been largely spared the worst violence of Syria’s conflict and had become a refuge for Syrians fleeing the fighting.

They came a day after Turkish forces and allied rebels seized the last part of the Turkish-Syrian border under IS control.

The coastal city is a popular beach resort among Syrians, with many coming from government controlled areas, particularly ahead of a major Muslim holiday next week.

In Homs, at 162 kilometers from the Syrian capital, a vehicle bomb exploded in the neighborhood of Tadmur, killing four people and wounding a dozen, according to police reports.

Al-Zahraa has also been regularly targeted in attacks, including a devastating double bomb blast in February that killed 57 people and was claimed by IS.

Areas controlled by President Bashar Assad’s forces have seen several bombings and other attacks during the country’s five-year civil war, with many claimed by Al-Qaida-linked militant groups.

The Ministry added that another suicidal terrorist detonated his auto bomb at the entrance of Tadmur door in Homs, killing 4 citizens and wounding 10 others, meanwhile, two terrorists also detonated themselves through two explosive belts in Damascus countryside, killing one citizen and injuring three others.

Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said the dead in both the Homs and Al-Sabura road attacks were government security forces manning checkpoints.

The Observatory said the blast killed three members of the Kurdish police force, the Asayesh, and two civilians. He said a deal with Washington could be firmed up in the “coming days” but refused to give concrete details, saying that United States and Russian officials are still “working out some of our preliminary agreements”.

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“Despite everything, we have some alignment of positions and an understanding of what we could do to deescalate the situation in Syria”, he told a press conference following the G20 summit in China.

Multiple bomb blasts hit government-held areas in Syria