The Islamic State jihadist group claimed responsibility for a spate of bomb attacks across Syria on Monday that left dozens dead in mostly government-controlled territory.
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Adding to the carnage, six blasts on Monday hit west of Damascus and the government-held cities of Homs and Tartous, as well as the Kurdish-controlled northeastern province of Hasaka, state media and a monitoring group said. The city, a stronghold of support for President Bashar Assad, is home to a major Russian naval base.
On May 23, eight bombings were carried out by the Islamic State (IS) militants in the cities of Tartus and Jableh, another coastal city, killing 184 people and wounding at least 200 others.
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.
Syrian state TV said 48 people were killed in blasts around the coastal city of Tartus in the west, the central city of Homs, the suburbs of the capital, Damascus, and the northeastern city of Hasakeh.
SANA said the attack killed one person, while the opposition-run Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three people were killed.
A vehicle bomb meanwhile struck the city of Homs, around 80 km (50 miles) east of Tartous.
“A suicidal terrorist exploded his vehicle 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.
Another four people were killed in a auto bomb in Homs city’s Al-Zahraa neighbourhood, whose residents mostly belong to the same Alawite sect as Assad. The attacks were timed to coincide with the morning rush hour.
The governor of Homs province says a auto bomb struck a military checkpoint in the provincial capital, Homs, killing two soldiers and injuring four others, one critically.
“It’s an area that houses officers and their families”. Government military forces withdrew from the city in August after street battles with the Kurdish autonomous self-defense force for the region, the YPG.
In Hassakeh, an explosives-packed motorcycle was blown up at the Marsho roundabout, killing five civilians and injuring two others, Sana said.
The Syrian Observatory put the total death toll for Monday’s attacks at 47.
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”. US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov are expected to continue the talks in the coming days. Putin said the two men had understood each other and an agreement on ways to significantly reduce the violence in Syria could be reached in days.
Hopes had been raised that a deal would be announced over the weekend, but United States officials said it floundered after Russian Federation backtracked.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also at the G20, said he had urged world powers to create a “safe zone” in Syria, with a “no-fly” element, that would help control the flow of migrants.
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Syria’s cabinet said the attacks were a response to the recapture on Sunday by the army and its allies of a district of Aleppo that insurgents had seized last month, reinstating a siege on rebel-held parts of the city.
