ISIS: 2 bombs in Homs 4 bombs in Damascus 140 dead

[Anthea]

Reuters

Twin bomb blasts kills more than 48 in Syria's Homs

At least 46 people were killed in twin car bomb blasts that hit Syria's Homs on Sunday in one of the deadliest such attacks in the city in five years of civil war, a monitoring group said, and state media confirmed the explosions.

At least 100 others were wounded by the explosions in the city center's Zahra district, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Footage from pro-Damascus television channels showed charred corpses buried among rubble, damage to shop fronts and debris littering a wide area. Many cars were on fire, sending out plumes of black smoke. Wounded people walked around dazed.

State television quoted the governor of Homs as saying at least 25 people had been killed.

A bomb attack claimed by Islamic State last month in Homs in the west of the country killed at least 24 people as government forces took back some Islamic State-held villages in Aleppo province in the north.

Sunday's attacks also came a day after government advances against Islamic State. There was no immediate claim from the group, however.

A bomb attack in December which killed 32 people took place after a ceasefire deal that paved the way for the government to take over the last rebel-controlled area of the city, which was a center of the 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

Observatory director Rami Abdulrahman said the attack was the second most deadly of its kind in Homs since 2011, and the deadliest for almost a year and a half.

Violence rages on unabated across the country as world powers and the United Nations push to end the conflict, meeting in Geneva to try to broker a ceasefire.

Peace talks were suspended almost immediately earlier this month as Syrian government forces and their allies, backed by Russian air strikes, intensified assaults against insurgents in Aleppo province.

The latest fighting in the north of the country has displaced tens of thousands of people, many of whom headed for the Turkish border. The exodus added to more than 11 million already displaced by the conflict that has claimed 250,000 lives.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-midea ... SKCN0VU08C

[Anthea]

BBC News

Bomb blasts in the Syrian cities of Homs and Damascus have left more than 100 people dead, monitors and state media say.

In Homs, at least 57 people, mainly civilians, were killed in a double car bombing, a monitoring group reported.

At least four blasts later struck the southern Damascus suburb of Sayyida Zeinab, causing at least 50 deaths, state media said.

So-called Islamic State has said it carried out the Damascus blasts.

Both Damascus and Homs have been targeted by Islamic State (IS) militants in the past.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said a "provisional agreement" has been reached with Russia on a partial truce in the conflict.

Homs carnage

Both attacks targeted areas dominated by minorities within Islam reviled by the Sunni Muslim radicals of IS.

In Homs, the blasts happened in a predominantly Alawite district, the sect to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs.

In Damascus, at least four explosions were reported in Sayyida Zeinab, the location of Syria's holiest Shia Muslim shrine, said to contain the grave of the Prophet Muhammad's granddaughter.

State television reported at least 50 dead and 200 wounded. Other reports put the death toll higher.

Homs, one of the early centres of the uprising against President Assad, was once dubbed the "capital of the revolution".

But rebels left the city late last year under a ceasefire deal, leaving the city in government hands.

The Amaq news agency, which is linked to the self-styled Islamic State, said IS militants had detonated a car bomb and then blown up explosive belts.

The district was hit by suicide attacks last month that left 71 people dead and which IS fighters also said they had carried out.

The Observatory also said that at least 50 Islamic State fighters had been killed in an advance by government troops, backed by Russian air strikes, east of the northern city of Aleppo in the past 24 hours.

'My duty'

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke optimistically about progress towards a possible ceasefire.

He had spoken to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, he said, and they had agreed on terms but details still needed to be worked out.

Earlier this month, world powers involved in Syria agreed to seek a "cessation of hostilities" but the Friday deadline has come and gone.

For his part, President Assad has said he hopes to be remembered as the man who "saved" Syria.

Asked by Spanish newspaper El Pais where he would see himself in 10 years' time, he said: "If Syria is safe and sound, and I'm the one who saved his country - that's my job now, that's my duty."

Mr Assad also said his army was close to encircling rebel-held parts of the key northern city of Aleppo, and were advancing on Raqqa, the main stronghold of IS fighters.

He said he was ready to implement a temporary truce as long as there were guarantees what he called "terrorists" would not use it to improve their positions.

Separately, Amnesty International has criticised Turkey for refusing entry to some Syrians wounded in the latest fighting, urging it to keep its border open.

Amnesty's crisis response director, Tirana Hassan, said: "Turkey's highly selective practice is appalling - only severely injured people are allowed entry to seek medical treatment while everyone else fleeing the violence is left unprotected."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-35624654