A series of suicide bombs near a
Shia shrine in Damascus and Homs have killed 140 people on Sunday,
when USA and Russia reached a "provisional agreement" on a
cease-fire in the civil war-torn country.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant (ISIL) group, which has seized territory in Syria and Iraq, claimed it
was behind the attacks. Forty-six people were killed by two suicide bombers in
the al-Zahraa neighborhood of Homs. At least 28 of the victims in Homs were
civilians, said the observatory, a British-based human rights watchdog that is
widely considered to be authoritative.
The areas that were targeted on
Sunday are mostly dominated by minorities within Islam reviled by the Sunni
Muslim radicals of Islamic State (IS). Early in the afternoon, explosions from
two car bombs ripped through a residential neighborhood in Homs. In
Damascus, at least four explosions were reported in Sayyida Zeinab, the
location of Syria's holiest Shia Muslim shrine, which is said to contain the
grave of the Prophet Muhammad's granddaughter.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Saturday that he was
"definitely" ready to accept a "cessation of hostility" - but
only if "terrorists" weren't allowed to use it to their advantage. He
further added: "It's about preventing other countries, especially Turkey,
from sending more recruits, more terrorists, more armaments or any kind of
logistical support to those terrorists." Turkey has been among the most
active of the Western countries supporting insurgents fighting Assad's regime.
In Syria's biggest city, Aleppo,
Russian planes and the Syrian army are battling together in a huge offensive
designed to cut off the opposition's supply lines.
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