Sky News reports that 73 people were killed in Jableh and another 48 died in Tartus further south, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
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According to the Syrian foreign ministry, terrorists first detonated a auto bomb at the main bus station in Tartus, which was immediately followed by two suicide bomb explosions, one inside the bus station and the other in a nearby residential neighborhood.
Three explosions struck the port city of Tartous, where Russia has long maintained a naval base and four more hit the town of Jabla, not far from a new Russian air base established for the goal of intervening in Syria’s war late previous year, according to the state news agency SANA.
ISIL claimed through its semi-official Amaq news agency that its jihadists targeted gatherings of people from the Alawite minority sect, of which President Bashar Assad belongs to.
Most of those killed in Monday’s explosion at the Jableh National Hospital in the city of Jableh were patients and visiting family members, but three doctors and nurses were also among the dead, said WHO.
“We will not be deterred. we will use everything we have to fight the terrorists”, said Syrian cabinet minister Omran al-Zoubi on Syrian TV.
WHO called the suicide bombing at the Jableh hospital a violation of global humanitarian law and said it is one of at least 17 attacks on health facilities in Syria this year. In Tartous, which is home to a naval facility of the Russian military, a auto bomb and two suicide bombers targeted a petrol station, according to Reuters, citing state media.
He said Moscow urges “all parties concerned to stop offensive operations and shooting and to distance themselves from the regions controlled by” the al-Qaida affiliate in Syria.
In his statement, Ban also reiterated a call on all parties to the Syrian conflict to refrain from attacks on the civilian population, adding that those perpetrating such attacks must be held accountable for their crimes.
Both have remained relatively secure even as the war has raged in Latakia province’s rural northeast and throughout the country.
The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility of being behind the bombings.
Earlier on Monday, ISIS said it was behind a suicide blast that killed dozens of army recruits in the Yemeni city of Aden.
Russian Federation – a key backer of Mr Assad – has a naval base in Tartous and an airbase near Jableh, from where it has conducted air strikes on Isil targets across Syria. “And this one more time underscores the need for new urgent steps to continue the negotiating process”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
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Damascus refers to all insurgents fighting against it in the five-year conflict as terrorists.
