The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the six bombings that rocked key Syrian cities and killed at least 48 people earlier on Monday.
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The United States and Russian Federation have taken the first steps towards peace in Syria, with leaders Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin holding “productive” talks as Islamic State militants killed dozens in blasts across the war-torn nation.
“A suicidal terrorist exploded his auto bomb at Arzounah bridge at the entrance of Tartous city, then another terrorist detonated his explosive belt amid the citizens who have rushed to help the authorities rescue the wounded, claiming the lives of 30 citizens and injuring 43 others”, The Foreign Ministry said in two letters sent to the UN Secretary General and President of Security council.
Then, as a crowd gathered at the scene to help the wounded, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt, the source added. Tartous has been largely spared the worst violence of Syria’s conflict since it began with anti-government protests, and has become a refuge for many Syrians fleeing the fighting. The Observatory said the blast killed five members of the Kurdish police force, the Asayesh, and three civilians.
The Observatory said the Homs explosion hit an army checkpoint, killing four officers.
An attacker detonated his motorcycle at the Marsho roundabout in the northeastern city of Hasakeh, killing five, SANA said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said that attack targeted a checkpoint and gave a toll of three dead.
The group made the claim in a statement carried by its affiliated news agency, Amaq.
The attack follows advances by Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels at the weekend that repelled IS militants from the last stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border the group controlled. The YPG controls swathes of northern Syria where Kurdish groups have established de facto autonomy since the start of the Syrian war, much to the alarm of neighbouring Turkey, which fears the creation of a Kurdish enclave in northern Syria would fuel Kurdish separatist ambitions at home.
Government forces withdrew from Hasakeh in August after street battles with Kurdish forces, which took control of the city, though the state’s police force remained in place.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday said he was working with Russian Federation and the USA to have northern Syria declared a no-fly zone, a proposal that has failed to get off the ground in the past. The former Cold War enemies have been trying to broker a new truce after a ceasefire agreed in February unravelled in weeks, with Washington accusing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces – which are backed by Russian Federation – of violating the pact.
It had been hoped a deal on a ceasefire and humanitarian deliveries would be announced jointly by Mr Kerry and Mr Lavrov on Monday, but it was not forthcoming.
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Meanwhile, the US President described his talks with Mr Putin in China as “productive”, but said the rival powers were challenged by “gaps of trust”. The leaders directed Kerry and Lavrov to reach an agreement in the coming days, according to a senior White House official.
