{"id":216461,"date":"2016-05-23T14:14:42","date_gmt":"2016-05-23T14:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=216461"},"modified":"2016-05-23T14:14:42","modified_gmt":"2016-05-23T14:14:42","slug":"deadly-blasts-hit-assad-strongholds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/05\/deadly-blasts-hit-assad-strongholds\/","title":{"rendered":"Deadly blasts hit Assad strongholds"},"content":{"rendered":"
At least 78 people have been killed in a series of bomb attacks in two government strongholds on Syria’s Mediterranean coast, state media say.<\/p>\n
A suicide bomber and a car bomb blew up within minutes of each other at a bus station in the port city of Tartous.<\/p>\n
A bus station and a hospital were also among the targets of four bombings in Jableh, a town to the north.<\/p>\n
A news agency linked to so-called Islamic State (IS) said the jihadist group was behind the attacks.<\/p>\n
Amaq cited an IS source as saying militants had targeted “gatherings of Alawites”, a reference to the heterodox Shia sect to which President Bashar al-Assad belongs.<\/p>\n
Russia – a key backer of Mr Assad – has a naval base in Tartous and an airbase near Jableh, from where it has conducted air strikes on IS targets across Syria.<\/p>\n
The state news agency, Sana, cited a police source as saying that 45 people were killed and many others, most of them women and children, were injured in Jableh.<\/p>\n
It reported that two bombs exploded at the main entrance of the town’s bus station.<\/p>\n