Dozens reported killed as blasts rip through Syria
DAMASCUS: Six explosions hit government-controlled areas and a province held by a Kurdish militia in Syria yesterday morning, killing dozens of people.
It was not clear if there was a link between the blasts reported west of Damascus, in the state-held cities of Homs and Tartous – which hosts a Russian military base – and in the north-eastern province of Hasaka, controlled by Kurdish YPG fighters.
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, which all took place between 8am and 9am local time.
Islamic State – which is fighting both the government and the US-backed YPG militants – confirmed that one Hasaka blast took place but did not say whether its fighters were involved.
The turmoil underlined the complexity of a five-year civil war that has cut Syria into a patchwork of territories held by the state and an often competing array of armed factions and sectarian groups.
Two explosions which hit the Arzouna bridge area at the entrance to Tartous killed 35 people, the Syr- ian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Syrian state television said the first explosion was a car bomb and the second was a suicide belt detonated as rescue workers came to the scene of the first incident.
The blasts hit during Tartous’s Summer Festival. Its beaches recently featured in a government tourism video circulated on social media inviting people to visit Syria’s Mediterranean coastline.
A car bomb struck the city of Homs at the Bab Tadmur roundabout at the entrance to the al-Zahra neighbourhood, killing three people, state media said.
The Observatory said the Homs explosion hit an army checkpoint, killing four officers.
To the west of Damascus, there was an explosion at the entrance to the town of al Saboura, along a road which leads to the Beirut-Damascus highway, killing one person and injuring three, a police commander quoted on state television said.
A local police chief told state media three men were stopped in a car by security forces.
“The driver was killed and the two others got out of the car and detonated their suicide belts, killing one person,” he said.
The Observatory said three people died in the Saboura blast.
A motorcycle also exploded in the centre of the north-eastern city of Hasaka, killing five people including three members of the YPG-affiliated security force known as the Asayish, said the Observatory.
The Kurdish YPG militia, a critical part of the US-backed campaign against IS, took near complete control of Hasaka city late last month after a week of fighting with the government.
The YPG already controls swathes of northern Syria where Kurdish groups have established de facto autonomy since the start of the Syrian war in 2011. – Reuters