ISIS Kills 150 as U.S., Russia Push for Truce

A series of suicide bombings in Homs and outside a Shiite shrine near Damascus killed more than 150 people over the weekend. The attacks – claimed by the Islamic State group (ISIS) – came as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pushed to secure a ceasefire, AFP reports.

Kerry announced that an interim deal had been reached on the terms of a truce in Syria’s civil war just as bloodshed in civilian areas spiked.

A car bombing outside the Shiite shrine of Sayyida Zeinab in the Damascus suburbs was followed by two consecutive suicide bombings on Sunday, killing some 96 people according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Quoting a police source, the Syrian state news agency said 178 people, including children, were wounded.

In the city of Homs, two car bombs killed at least 59 people and wounded dozens in the pro-government area of al-Zahraa.

World powers in the International Syrian Support Group (ISSG), a 17-nation group including Russia and the U.S. that has been pushing for a halt in the violence in Syria, had hoped a ceasefire would take effect on Friday but failed to agree on the terms in time.

Kerry spoke with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov three times on Sunday in an attempt to work out an agreement on a truce.

“We have reached a provisional agreement, in principle, on the terms of the cessation of hostilities that could begin in the coming days,” Kerry said after the first round of dialogues with Lavrov on Sunday.

The two reportedly held two more telephone conversations during which they finalized ceasefire terms and submitted them to their respective presidents.

The Syrian opposition has said that any ceasefire must be reached “with international mediation and with guarantees obliging Russia, Iran and their sectarian militias and mercenaries to stop fighting.”

President Bashar al-Assad said he was “ready” for a ceasefire, but that “terrorists” should not exploit any efforts at a truce.

Turkish Strikes on Syrian Kurd Fighters ‘Legitimate Defense’: Erdogan

Turkey on Saturday defended its shelling of Kurdish militants in Syria as “legitimate defense,” as world powers urged Ankara to halt its cross-border attacks, AFP reports.

Turkish forces have been shelling Syrian Kurdish targets for the past week in an effort to halt the advances of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition of Arab and Kurdish militias in Syria primarily led by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

Ankara blamed a Syrian Kurdish fighter for last week’s suicide bombing in the Turkish capital that killed 28 people.

“The situation we are currently facing is one of legitimate defense. No one can deny or limit Turkey’s legitimate right to defense in the face of terrorist attacks,” Erdogan said on Saturday.

Erdogan’s statement comes after Russia, France and the U.S. all urged Turkey to rein in or halt its military action in Syria.

The Turkish government claims the YPG is the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group that has waged a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state.

While Washington supports the YPG as its most effective ground force in the U.S.-led coalition’s battle against ISIS, Ankara considers it to be a terror group.

‘Remember Me as the Man who Saved Syria’: Assad

In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Pais published on Saturday, Bashar al-Assad said he wants to be remembered 10 years from now as the man who saved Syria.

Although Assad’s fate has been a major sticking point in efforts to end Syria’s five-year-old civil war, he left open the question of whether he would still be president by then.

“In 10 years, if I can save Syria as president – but that doesn’t mean I’m still going to be president in 10 years, I’m just talking about my vision of the 10 years,” he said.

“If Syria is safe and sound, and I’m the one who saved his country – that’s my job now, that’s my duty … If the Syrian people want me to be in power, I will be. If they don’t want me, I can do nothing, I mean, I cannot help my country, so I have to leave right away.”

Assad said he was ready to implement a long-term ceasefire as long as rebels and their international backers like Turkey did not use the lull in fighting as a chance to gain ground.

In an exclusive interview with AFP earlier this month, before the ceasefire deal was announced, Assad promised to retake the entire country.

Recommended Reads

• The New York Times: Dispute Over Kurds Threatens U.S.-Turkey Alliance
• The Guardian: Azaz: The Border Town that Is Ground Zero in Syria’s Civil War
• Al-Monitor: Is Turkey Crushing Kurdish Self-Rule in Syria?
• The Guardian: The U.N. Security Council Must Do More to Protect Syrian Civilians
• NPR: After Calls For Ceasefire, Syria Steps Up Bombings
• The New York Times: Is There Action the U.S. Should Take in Syria?

Top image: Syrian citizens gather where two blasts exploded in the pro-government neighborhood of al-Zahraa, in Homs province, Syria, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016. Two blasts in Homs killed at least 59 people and injured many others in the latest wave of violence to hit the city in recent weeks. (Associated Press)