String of ISIL bombings kill 48 across Syria

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

The former Cold War enemies have been trying to broker a new truce after a ceasefire agreed in February unravelled in weeks, with Washington accusing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces – which are backed by Russian Federation – of violating the pact.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov have been trying to reach a deal for weeks that would curb the violence between the Russian-backed Assad’s government forces and moderate rebels backed by the US.

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

“Both US and Russian Federation are interested in fighting terrorism”, Mr Putin said at the conference.

Homs, Syria’s third largest city, is largely under government control, with only one neighbourhood still held by rebels.

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

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.

“Technical” disagreements remain, a White House official said Monday.

It said that the government of Syrian Arab Republic affirms that those terrorist crimes and massacres will not affect its stance in performing its legal and moral duties in combating terrorism or working to achieve a political solution to the crisis in Syria through a Syrian-Syrian dialogue and under a Syrian leadership, this solution that paves the way for overcoming terrorism and going ahead in reconstructing what has been destroyed by terrorists.

The announcement came some 10 days after Turkey launched its first major military incursion into Syria since the start of the war in 2011, an operation aimed as much at preventing further Kurdish territorial gains as at driving back Islamic State. But the idea, which he also raised at a G20 summit in Turkey a year ago, has failed to gain traction with Western allies who fear it would mean a deeper military commitment.

Syrian army soldiers inspect the damage at the site of two explosions that hit the Arzouna bridge area at the entrance to Tartous, Syria in this handout picture provided by SANA on September 5, 2016.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and a city hospital put the death toll at 35. The blasts hit during a summer festival at Tartous, whose beaches recently featured in a government tourism video.

In central Homs city, state media said at least three people were killed in a vehicle bomb at the entrance to the Al-Zahraa neighborhood, whose residents mostly belong to the same Alawite sect as Assad.

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

Turkey began an operation inside Syria on August 24, targeting both IS and Syrian Kurdish forces that have been a key U.S. partner in fighting the jihadist group in Syria.The operation has put Washington in an awkward position, with two key allies at times clashing.

Washington has urged Kurdish forces to honour a pledge to withdraw east of the Euphrates river to allay Turkish fears of a contiguous semi-autonomous Kurdish zone in Syria.