Almost 150 dead from ISIS bomb attacks in Assad-held cities

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group has claimed responsibility for the simultaneous attacks on Syrian government-held cities on Monday, May 23, which left at least 148 people dead and scores more injured.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the Mediterranean coastal cities of Tartous and Jableh were hit with simultaneous car bombs and suicide bombers in civilian areas such as bus stations and hospitals. The Britain-based Observatory counted 148 people killed by five suicide bombers and two car bombs.

The terrorist group released a statement through their Amaq news agency within hours after the bomb attacks announcing that they targeted "gatherings of Alawites," referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite minority.

Reuters quoted a follow-up statement released by the group saying, "So they experience the same taste of death which Muslims so far have tasted from Russian (and Syrian government) air strikes on Muslim towns." They counted at least 10 of their fighters who died from the attacks, five each in Tartous and in Jableh.

Both Tartous and Jableh are strongholds of the Syrian government that had been spared from the five-year running conflict that wracked the country. The attacks were the first to hit Tartous, capital of the Tartous province, the location for Russia's largest naval base outside the Soviet Union for more than 40 years, according to The Guardian. Fifty miles to the north is Jableh in Lakatia province where there's a Russian operated airbase nearby.

"This demonstrates yet again just how fragile the situation in Syria is. And this one more time underscores the need for new urgent steps to continue the negotiating process," said Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman, during a conference call with journalists. Previous peace talks held in Vienna and Geneva showed little progress.

In an interview with Ikhbariya, Syria's Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi vowed to continue fighting the terrorists especially as they resort to attacking the civilians. Both the Syrian and Russian governments refer to the opposition groups and jihadi militants as terrorists.