At least 20 people have been killed in a string of explosions in government- and Kurdish-held areas of Syria, state media say.
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At least 48 people died in the blasts, Syrian state media reported, a majority of them in a double bombing in President Bashar al-Assad’s coastal stronghold of Tartus.
Another suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt amid the crowd which gathered to help those injured in the first blast.
The first bombing happened in the central city of Homs when a booby-trapped auto was detonated after being discovered by government soldiers at a checkpoint at the Bab Tadmur area.
Apart from Tartus, other areas, included the government-held Homs city and a Kurdish security forces checkpoint in Hasekeh city, were also targeted. The push was apparently aimed at again cutting off supplies of food and other provisions to residents of rebel-held areas of the city, once Syria’s largest.
Deadly explosions rocked Syria Monday, hours after the United States and Russian Federation discussed an end to the violence during G20 talks.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks, according to a statement by the ISIS-affiliated Amaq agency.
The Islamic State group claimed suicide bombings in Tartus and neighboring Jableh that killed over 160 people in May.
The Observatory said the blast killed three members of the Kurdish security force, known as the Asayish, and two civilians. Islamic State attacked Tartous in May.
The Observatory said that the attack targeted a checkpoint and gave a death toll of three.
Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said in an emailed statement on Monday that rebel groups “under US control”, unlike the Syrian government, still have not offered guarantees of safe passage along those routes. On Sunday, Turkish troops and Syrian rebels drove ISIL back from the last stretch of Syria’s northern border under its control, severing key supply lines to its self-styled caliphate.
The deadliest were two explosions on the Arzouna bridge area at the entrance to Tartous, which killed 35 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
U.S. President Barack Obama described talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as tough but productive after their meeting at the G20 summit in China. The Observatory said four soldiers were killed.
An attacker detonated his motorcycle at the Marsho roundabout in the northeastern city of Hasakeh, killing five, SANA said.
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4 attacks took place within an hour in Tartous, Homs and in a suburb of Damascus, with one in Hassakeh, which is dominated by Kurdish forces.
