Two explosions hit the Arzouna bridge area at the entrance to Tartous on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and state news agency SANA said. A vehicle bomb blew up on a bridge, and then a suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt detonated himself when people gathered to take the wounded to a hospital, killing a total of 30 people, the agency said.
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Syrian state media is reporting that multiple bomb blasts have struck government and military targets around the country.
A third attack targeted a Syrian army checkpoint in the al-Sabura area west of the capital Damascus, killing three people, the observatory said.
And state media also reported a auto bomb at the entrance to the Al-Zahra neighbourhood in Homs, which is controlled by the government.
At least 48 people have been killed in bombings in mainly government-held areas of Syria, and dozens have been injured.
Syrians state television said one person was killed and three injured at the entrance to al Saboura, but SOHR said the death count was three. The Observatory said it hit an army checkpoint, killing four officers.
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks which all took place between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. local time (0500-0600 GMT). The IS-affiliated Amaq agency carried a statement saying the jihadist group was behind a “string of simultaneous suicide attacks”. “However, we must ensure that it is an effective agreement”, the official said.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a bomb blast that killed at least five people in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakeh.
The attacks came as US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed a ceasefire deal for Syria on the sidelines of the G20 summit in China. Their foregn ministers, Secretary of State John Kerry and Sergey Lavrov, had met ealier in efforts to negotiate a plan for cooperation between the two major military powers now involved in the conflict.
Government troops withdrew from Hasakeh in August after street battles with Kurdish forces, which took control of the city, although the police force stayed in place.
Isis has been losing ground to the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is an alliance of the Kurdish and Arab fighters against the Islamic State jihadists.
Areas controlled by President Bashar Assad’s forces have seen several bombings and other attacks during the country’s five-year civil war, with many claimed by Al-Qaida-linked militant groups.
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Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he was working with the US -led coalition and Russian Federation to try to establish a ceasefire in Aleppo before the Eid al-Adha religious holiday expected to start around September 11. No casualty figures were available. Putin meanwhile said he felt there was “some alignment of positions and an understanding of what we could do to de-escalate the situation in Syria”.
