At least 18 people were killed and dozens wounded in a series of bombings across mostly government-controlled areas of Syria on Monday, state media reported.

The blasts hit government-held Tartus and Homs, as well as Hasakeh, which is mostly controlled by Kurdish forces but where the regime maintains a presence.

State media said at least 11 people had been killed and 45 injured in a double bomb attack just outside the city of Tartus, in the coastal province of the same name, which is a stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad's government.

"Two terrorist blasts on Arzuna bridge, the first a car bomb and the second a suicide bomber who detonated his explosive belt when people gathered to help the wounded," state television said.

State media also reported five people killed in Hasakeh, in the northeast of the country.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the blast hit a checkpoint belonging to the Kurdish Asayesh security forces.

And state media also reported a car bomb at the entrance to the Al-Zahra neighbourhood in central Homs city, which is controlled by the government.

It said at least two people were killed and four wounded in the bombing, which is the latest in a series of attacks targeting Al-Zahra neighbourhood, where most residents are Alawite, the sect to which Assad belongs.

State media also reported another bomb attack on a road west of the capital Damascus, but gave no immediate toll in the blast.

The Observatory said that attack targeted a checkpoint and gave a toll of three dead. </s> The Latest: IS claims blast in northeastern Syria

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The Latest on the conflict in Syria (all times local):

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a bomb blast that killed at least five people in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakeh.

The extremist group's Aamaq media agency posted that the Monday morning suicide attack killed and wounded 15 people.

Syrian state media said the attacker blew himself up on his motorcycle at a traffic circle.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said three Kurdish Syrian police officers were killed in the blast.

At least 38 people were killed in a string of bomb blasts in government-controlled territories. The attacks were timed closely together, though the Islamic State group did not claim responsibility for the attacks in Homs, Tartus, and the Damascus suburb of Saboura.

Syrian state media has increased the death toll from a string of bombings around the country up to at least 38.

State news agency SANA reports that twin blasts at the entrance to coastal city of Tartus Monday morning killed at least 30 people. The agency also reported blasts in the central city of Homs, the suburbs of the capital Damascus, and the northeastern city of Hasakeh.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, which maintains a network of contacts inside the country, put the toll at 47 dead. Conflicting casualty figures are common in the Syria war.

Syrian state media is reporting that multiple bomb blasts have struck government and military targets around the country.

State television Monday morning reported blasts in the coastal city of Tartus, the central city of Homs, the suburbs of the capital Damascus, and the northeastern city of Hassakeh.

Casualty reports were still coming in. The governor of Homs province says a car bomb struck a military checkpoint in the provincial capital, Homs, killing two soldiers and injuring four others, one critically.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group also reports a blast in the northeastern city of Qamishli as well. </s> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption IS claims wave of bombings that kills dozens

At least 40 people have been killed in bombings in mainly government-held areas of Syria, state media report.

Four attacks took place within an hour in Tartous, Homs and in a suburb of Damascus, with one in Hassakeh, which is dominated by Kurdish forces.

The deadliest incident was outside Tartous, home to a Russian naval base and in the heartland of President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect.

The Islamic State (IS) group said it was behind the attacks.

The group made the claim in a statement carried by its affiliated news agency, Amaq.

'Crowd targeted'

The attacks took place between 08:00 and 09:00 (05:00-06:00 GMT) on Monday.

Syria's official Sana news agency reported that 30 civilians had been killed and 45 others injured in the Tartous countryside.

First, a car bomb was detonated on the Arzoneh motorway bridge, a local police source told Sana.

Then, as a crowd gathered at the scene to help the wounded, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt, the source added.

Tartous had been relatively unscathed by Syria's five-year civil war until May, when a suicide bomb attack on a bus station by IS militants left dozens dead.

In the central city of Homs, four people were killed and 10 injured when a car bomb exploded at the entrance to the Bab Tadmour district, Sana reported.

Image copyright EPA Image caption The bomb in Homs targeted a military checkpoint, according to the provincial governor

The governor of Homs province said the car bomb targeted a military checkpoint and that the casualties were soldiers.

One person was killed in a bombing on a road in Saboura, a heavily-guarded western suburb of Damascus, a police source told Sana.

Opposition activist Yousef al-Boustani said the area was home to security officers and their families and that the attack represented a major security breach.

In Hassakeh, an explosives-packed motorcycle was blown up at the Marsho roundabout, killing five civilians and injuring two others, Sana said.

Image copyright EPA Image caption The area targeted in Saboura is home to security officers and their families

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group that monitors the conflict in Syria through a network of sources, said three of the dead were Kurdish security personnel, known as the Asayish.

The Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) militia took near complete control of the north-eastern city last month after a week of clashes with government troops.

The Syrian Observatory put the total death toll for Monday's attacks at 47.

The attacks came as US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed a ceasefire deal for Syria on the sidelines of the G20 summit in China.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama have so far failed to reach a deal to ease fighting in Syria

Mr Obama said he and Mr Putin had had "productive" discussions and had agreed to continue the search for a comprehensive truce.

The US president said: "Given the gaps of trust that exist, that's a tough negotiation and we haven't yet closed the gaps in a way where we think it would actually work.

"But my instructions to Secretary [of State John] Kerry and Mr Putin's instructions to [Foreign Minister Sergei] Lavrov were to keep working at it over the next several days."

Mr Putin said the talks were "on the right track" and that there was "some alignment" with the US.

It had been hoped a deal on a ceasefire and humanitarian deliveries would be announced jointly by Mr Kerry and Mr Lavrov on Monday, but it was not forthcoming.

The US is particularly concerned by the deteriorating conditions in and around Syria's second city, Aleppo, where rebel-held districts are once again under siege after government forces advanced on Sunday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also at the G20, said he had urged world powers to create a "safe zone" in Syria, with a "no-fly" element, that would help control the flow of migrants. </s> Blasts hit government-held and Kurdish parts of Syria, several killed

BEIRUT, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Five explosions hit government-controlled areas and a city held by a Kurdish militia in Syria on Monday morning, killing several people, state media and a monitor said.

It was not immediately clear if there was any link between the blasts reported along a road outside Damascus, in the state-held cities of Homs and Tartous - which hosts a Russian military base - and in northeastern city of Hasaka, which is controlled by Kurdish YPG fighters.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks which all took place between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. local time (0500-0600 GMT).

More than five years of civil war have cut Syria into a patchwork of territories held by the state and an array of armed factions - including Islamic State which attacked the Mediterranean city of Tartous in May.

Two explosions hit the Arzouna bridge area at the entrance to Tartous on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and state news agency SANA said.

The Observatory put the death toll at 32, including members of the Syrian military, and said the number was likely to rise. The head of a Tartous hospital told SANA 35 people were killed and 45 wounded.

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 and two officers were killed.

There was an explosion near the town of al Saboura, along a road which leads onto the Beirut-Damascus highway, killing one person and injuring three, according to a police commander quoted on state television.

A motorbike also exploded in the centre of the northeastern city of Hasaka, which is controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia.

The Observatory said the blast killed three members of the YPG-affiliated security force known as the Asayish, and injured others.

The Kurdish YPG militia, a critical part of the U.S.-backed campaign against Islamic State, took near complete control of Hasaka city in late August 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. (Reporting by Lisa Barrington; Additional reporting by Kinda Makieh in Damascus and Ahmed Tolba in Cairo; Editing by Andrew Heavens) </s> BEIRUT (Reuters) - Five explosions hit government-controlled areas and a city held by a Kurdish militia in Syria on Monday morning, killing several people, state media and a monitor said.

It was not immediately clear if there was any link between the blasts reported in the state-held cities of Tartous and Homs and along a road outside Damascus – and if they had been coordinated with the attack in Hasaka.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, which all took place between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. local time.

Two explosions hit the Arzouna Bridge area at the entrance to the northwestern coastal city of Tartous, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and state news agency SANA said.

Those explosions killed at least 11 people and wounded 45, a source in the Tartous police told SANA.

Syrian state media 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.

A car bomb struck the city of Homs at the entrance to the Bab Tadmur neighborhood, SANA said. Homs’ health director told SANA that hospitals had received two bodies and seven injured people. The Observatory said the Homs explosion hit an army checkpoint and two officers were killed.

There was an explosion near the town of al Saboura, along a road which leads into the Beirut-Damascus highway, according to a police commander quoted on state media.

A motor bike also exploded in the center of the northeastern city of Hasaka, which is controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia.

The Observatory said the blast killed three members of the YPG-affiliated security force known as the Asayish, and injured others. </s> A string of bombings claimed by ISIS killed dozens across Syria, as Washington and Moscow failed to agree on a deal to stem the country's violence.

The blasts killed at least 48 people and wounded dozens more, a day after the jihadist group lost the last stretch of the Syria-Turkey border under its control.

In China, where world powers were gathered for the G20 meeting, US President Barack Obama and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin touted 'productive' talks and 'some alignment' on Syria.

But the two powers failed to produce an expected deal to ease the violence in Syria, where more than 290,000 people have been killed and more than half the population displaced since March 2011.

The latest carnage came in a series of blasts, the deadliest of which was a double bombing in the coastal province of Tartus, a stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad's government and Russia's naval and air force base in the area.

The bombings hit a bridge outside the provincial capital Tartus city, killing at least 35 people and wounding 43, state media said.

The blasts targeted the Arzuna bridge, 'the first a car bomb and the second a suicide bomber who detonated his explosive belt when people gathered to help the wounded,' according to state television.

Tartus has been largely spared the worst violence of Syria's conflict since it began with anti-government protests, and has become a refuge for many Syrians fleeing the fighting.

In the northeastern city of Hasakeh, a bomber on a motorbike killed six members of the Kurdish security forces and two civilians.

The city is mostly controlled by Kurdish forces, though the regime is also present.

In central Homs city, the target was the Al-Zahraa neighbourhood, whose residents mostly belong to the same Alawite sect as Assad and have regularly been targeted by devastating bombings.

Four people were killed there on Monday, in a car bomb that hit a checkpoint at the district's entrance.

State television broadcast images from the aftermath of the blast in Homs, showing rubble strewn on the streets and smoke rising from the charred remains of vehicles.

An additional attack hit the Al-Sabura road west of the capital Damascus, with state media saying one person had been killed and three wounded.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said that attack targeted a checkpoint and gave a toll of three dead.

The ISIS-affiliated Amaq agency carried a statement saying the jihadist group was behind a 'string of simultaneous suicide attacks'.

They came a day after Turkish forces and allied rebels seized the last part of the Turkish-Syrian border under ISIS control.

Turkey began an operation inside Syria on August 24, targeting both ISIS but also Syrian Kurdish forces that have been a key US partner in the fight against the jihadist group. </s> BEIRUT — An explosion outside an office belonging to an al Qaeda-linked group in the country’s northwestern on Friday killed at least 11 people and wounded several others, opposition activists said.

The blast comes a week after members of the al Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Arabic for Levant Liberation Committee, or HTS, took over control of wide parts of Idlib province and the surrounding countryside after forcing rival insurgents to accept a deal for a civil administration run by HTS in their areas.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Smart news agency, an activist collective, said the blast occurred on the southern edge of the rebel-held city of Idlib.

The Observatory said 11 people were killed in the blast, including seven HTS members. Smart said 12 people were killed, many of them militants.

In the country’s east, an air strike in the last area held by the Islamic State killed at least 20 people in the village of Baghouz, according to the state news agency SANA. The Observatory said 23 people were killed including 10 Islamic State members.

They both blamed the U.S.-led coalition that has been providing air cover to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in their months-long offensive to capture the area from extremists near the Iraqi border.

Meanwhile in Turkey, President Tayyip Erdogan met with U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham to discuss the situation in Syria as the United States prepares to withdraw troops.

Graham, a prominent voice on foreign affairs in the U.S., met with Erdogan and other Turkish officials Friday for talks that were also expected to include a proposal for the creation of a “safe zone” in northeast Syria.

The visit comes days after a suicide bombing, claimed by Islamic State, killed two U.S. service members and two American civilians in the northeastern town of Manbij. </s> A suicide bomber killed at least 13 people when an explosive device was detonated inside a Kurdish wedding hall in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasaka, state media and a monitor said on Monday.

State television, quoting a police source in the city, said the initial toll also included 55 injured. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 14 were killed in the blast, adding the number was expected to rise with many of the wounded in critical condition.

The city is mainly in the hands of the Kurdish YPG militia after it evicted the Syrian army last August and leaving them with a symbolic foothold in a security zone in the center of the city. </s> Rebel alliance formerly affiliated with al-Qaeda said it was behind blasts targeting Shia pilgrims that killed dozens.

The alliance of hardline fighters in Syria known as Tahrir al-Sham has claimed responsibility for twin bombings targeting Shia pilgrims in the centre of Damscus that killed at least 40 people.

"On Saturday... a twin attack was carried out by two heroes of Islam ... in the centre of the capital Damascus, killing and wounding dozens," the statement said.

The group, a large portion of which previously fought as an al-Qaeda affiliate, said the attack targeted "Iranian militias" and pro-government fighters in revenge for what it said was Iran's role in supporting President Bashar al-Assad's "tyrannical rule", holding them responsible for "killing and displacing" Syrians.

Iran and the Tehran-backed Hezbollah movement of Lebanon are close allies of the Syrian government.

The death toll from the blasts remained unclear as of Sunday, however.

Syrian state television said 40 people were killed and 120 wounded by "two bombs detonated by terrorists", while Iraq's foreign ministry said 40 of its nationals had died.

 

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 76 people, including 43 Iraqi pilgrims, were killed when a roadside bomb detonated as a bus made its way through the Ban al-Saghir area of Damascus' famed Old City, and then a suicide bomber blew himself up.

 

The war monitor said 11 bystanders and eight children were killed in the blasts, as well as 20 members of pro-government security forces.

 

In January, the Tahrir al-Sham alliance also claimed responsibility for twin suicide bombings in the high-security Kafr Sousa district of Damascus that killed 10 people, eight of them soldiers.

 

The centre of Damascus has been largely spared the violence that has rocked other major cities in Syria's six-year war.

 

But periodic bombings have targeted Shia shrines and were subsequently claimed by hardline groups, including Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS).
Several bombings kill at least 40 people in government and Kurdish held territory across Syria, including Tartus, Homs, Al-Hasakah and Damascus. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility.