No group claimed responsibility for the attacks which all took place between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. local time (0500-0600 GMT). Russian Federation says it can not agree to a deal unless opposition fighters, backed by the United States and Middle East allies, are separated from al Qaeda-linked militants they overlap with in some areas.
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State TV showed massive damage at the Arzoneh bridge just outside Tartus along the worldwide coastal highway.
Tartous Governor Safwan Abu Sa’adi visited the people injured in the terrorist bombings who are receiving treatment at al-Bassel Hospital in Tartous, and later he inspected the sites of the bombings, witnessing the damage caused to the sites and the work being done by civil defense and other sides to remove burnt cars, fallen trees, dust, and other debris caused by the attack.
The IS-run Aamaq news agency said the attacks included six suicide bombings and one remotely detonated blast.
The Observatory put the death toll at 32, including members of the Syrian military, and said the number was likely to rise.
One of Monday’s attacks took place in the heavily guarded suburb of Sabbourah, marking a major security breach.
“The driver was killed and the two others got out of the vehicle and detonated their suicide belts, killing one person”, he said. “Even before the revolution it was carefully guarded”, said opposition media activist Yousef al-Boustani, referring to the 2011 uprising against President Bashar Assad, which began with peaceful protests.
Back in May, the Islamic State group claimed twin suicide bombings in Tartus and neighboring Jableh that killed over 160 people. They fired at the auto, forcing two passengers to get out and the driver to blow it up, Bittar said.
A auto bomb struck the city of Homs at the Bab Tadmur roundabout at the entrance to the al-Zahra neighbourhood, killing three people, state media said. Their efforts were complicated on Sunday as government forces and their allies again laid siege to rebel-held eastern Aleppo, Syria’s largest city before the war which Assad is determined to fully recapture.
IS said it also detonated a bomb in the northeastern city of Qamishli, targeting Kurdish fighters. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported four soldiers were killed in the government-held Bab Tadmor district.
The Kurdish YPG militia, a critical part of the USA -backed campaign against Islamic State, took nearly complete control of Hasaka city in late August after a week of fighting with the government.
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Monday morning’s blasts hit the coastal city of Tartus, the central city of Homs, the suburbs of the capital Damascus as well as the northeastern city of Hasaka, which is mostly controlled by Kurdish forces but where the government maintains a presence. The Observatory confirmed an explosive device went off but had no casualty figures.
