Official news agency SANA said the first blast was caused by a vehicle bomb that detonated at a bus station near the shrine.
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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition monitor, said 25 Shiite fighters were among those killed.
The offensive, which was bolstered by Russian airstrikes, also brings the Syrian army within less than two miles of Nubul and Zahra, two Shiite Muslim-majority, pro-government towns that have been under siege for several years by Sunni Muslim rebel groups, including the Al Qaeda-affiliated Al Nusra Front.
The triple bombings rocked the sprawling Sayyidah Zaynab district, which was guarded by the Shiite Lebanese Hezbollah group, in the southern countryside of Damascus.
State television showed footage of burning buildings and wrecked cars in the neighbourhood.
The discussions are part of a November roadmap outlined by the global community that sets an 18-month-long time table to enable political transition in Syria and draft a new constitution.
The Syrian government team is expected at the United Nations on Tuesday morning, the opposition in the afternoon.
The Syrian talks started on Friday with a meeting between United Nations envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura and the delegation of the Syrian government.
The Geneva peace talks mark the first attempt in two years to hold negotiations over Syria, whose war has drawn in regional and worldwide powers and forced millions from their homes and into neighboring states and Europe.
The U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged both sides to seize the opportunity to end the bloodshed.
“Let me be clear: The Syrian regime has a fundamental responsibility – all the parties to the conflict have a duty – to facilitate humanitarian access to populations in desperate need…” Bashar al-Jaafari is leading the Syrian government delegation and branded the HNC as “not serious” on 31 January.
However, Jaafari said Syria would “not accept any preconditions” with opposition groups ahead of negotiations. His comments were made in a statement obtained by The Associated Press.
Mr de Mistura’s brief in Geneva is to coax the warring sides into six months of “proximity talks” as part of an ambitious road map agreed on by the many outside powers embroiled in the war.
Brett McGurk, President Obama’s envoy to the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State, said he visited northern Syria over the weekend to review the ongoing fight against the extremist group. The conflict has seen one atrocity committed after another, including starvation in Madaya, the use of chemical weapons against civilians and the Houla massacre, where scores of children were killed just some of the numerous acts of horror. They pretend to fight terrorism.
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Opposition spokesman Salim al-Muslat said Russian Federation should stop its attacks against opposition forces immediately.
