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Dozens killed in multiple bombings in Syria’s government-held areas

Four explosions hit the government controlled cities of Tartous, Homs and in the countryside outside the capital Damascus, while a fifth explosion hit the Kurdish-held city of Hasaka.

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In the coastal city of Tartus, at least 30 people were killed and dozens of others wounded on Monday, in twin bombings that rocked a checkpoint at the city’s entrance, said the report.

The assailants detonated two bombs at the entrance of the government stronghold of Tartus along the global coastal highway, which killed 30 persons, SANA news agency said. The Kurds and their political wing, the PYD, control the city, but the state police continue to function in the area.

The turmoil underlined the complexity of a five-year civil war that has cut Syria into a patchwork of territories held by the state and an often competing array of armed factions and sectarian groups.

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

Obama said the USA and Russia “haven’t yet closed the gaps” on a ceasefire agreement, a day after Russian-backed government forces advanced against rebels and reimposed a siege on the rebel-held eastern sector of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. It said a percussion bomb also went off in the province’s Qamishli city.

Islamic State’s media outlet Amaq said the attacks were suicide operations targeting the Syrian government and a Kurdish security force. The Observatory said the blast killed five members of the Kurdish police force, the Asayesh, and three civilians.

In China, where world powers had gathered for the Group of 20 meeting, U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, touted “productive” talks and “some alignment” on Syria.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which maintains a network of contacts inside Syria, put the overall death toll at 53.

Two more explosions have also been reported in Homs, along the highway to Damascus.

Also on Monday, a third vehicle bomb went off at a checkpoint at the entrance of al-Zahara neighbourhood in Homs province.

A auto bomb in the central city of Homs around 7:30 a.m. killed two people and injured seven.

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

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At least 16 of those killed were troops and pro-government militiamen, the Observatory said. Over the weekend, advances by the Turkish Army and Free Syria Army (FSA) fighters expelled DAESH from the last stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border under their control. The IS news agency said the attack targeted a checkpoint manned by Kurdish forces.

The blast caused huge damages in nearby buildings and torched many cars