Bomb blasts in the Syrian cities of Homs and Damascus have left at least 140 people dead. Monitors and state media say, at least four blasts struck the southern Damascus suburb of Sayyida Zeinab, killing at least 83 people.
Earlier in Homs, 57 people, mainly civilians, were reportedly killed in a double car bombing. Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for the yesterday’s attacks in both cities.
Syria’s official SANA news agency, for its part, quoted the governor of Homs as saying that 25 people had been killed and 39 injured by the twin blasts.
According to SANA, however, the death toll is likely to rise further, as many of the injured are in critical condition.
Homs was one of the early epicenters of a popular uprising that erupted in 2011 against the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
Until now, however, the city remains under the firm control of
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regime forces.
Homs has recently been rocked by a series of attacks, most of which have been claimed by the Daesh militant group.
The blasts came as President Bashar al-Assad told reporters Syrian refugees should not be scared of returning home Mr Assad, who has long been accused of persecuting his own people, said ordinary Syrians who had fled the conflict due to the standard of living that has been deteriorating drastically could go back without fear of action by the government. We want people to come back to Syria, he told reporters.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said, a provisional agreement has been reached with Russia on a partial truce in the Syrian conflict. Mr Kerry said yesterday, he has spoken with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss terms of a cease-fire and the two now must reach out to the parties in the conflict.
US Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday said that a “provisional agreement” has been reached between US and Russia on a cease-fire in Syria’s civil war. Kerry said he spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss terms of a cease-fire and the two now must reach out to the parties in the conflict. He declined to go into the details of the agreement but he said he hoped President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin would talk soon. He said after their talk, implementation could begin in the next few days.
Kerry said, a political solution is better than then a futile attempt to try to find a military one that could result in so much more destruction. However, he reiterated the long-time US position that any political solution to the conflict will not work if Syrian President Bashar Assad remains at the helm of the nation.