<div>At least 101 people were killed today in two Syrian regime bastions in a spate of bombings claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group.<br /><br />Fifty-three people were killed in the city of Jableh and another 48 died in Tartus further south, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.<br /><br />Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said they were "without a doubt the deadliest attacks" on the two cities since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011.<br /><br />The Islamic State group claimed the attacks via its Amaq news agency, saying IS fighters had attacked "Alawite gatherings" in Tartus and Jableh.<br /><br />Seven bombs -- most of them suicide attacks -- hit Jableh and Tartus almost simultaneously on Monday morning.<br /><br />Syrian state media also reported the attacks but gave a total of 78 dead, including 45 in Jableh and 33 in Tartus.<br /><br />State television broadcast footage of a bus station that was hit by one blast in Tartus.<br /><br />Charred minibuses lay on their sides while others were still ablaze. A Facebook page sharing local news from Jableh, where another bus station was targeted, as was a government hospital, shared footage of people around fire trucks near several bombed-out cars.<br /><br />Both cities are strongholds of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad -- whose family hails from the village of Qardaha, just 25 kilometres east of Jableh.<br /><br />They have been relatively insulated from the war raging in Syria, which has killed at least 270,000 people since March 2011. <br /></div>
<div>At least 101 people were killed today in two Syrian regime bastions in a spate of bombings claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group.<br /><br />Fifty-three people were killed in the city of Jableh and another 48 died in Tartus further south, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.<br /><br />Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said they were "without a doubt the deadliest attacks" on the two cities since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011.<br /><br />The Islamic State group claimed the attacks via its Amaq news agency, saying IS fighters had attacked "Alawite gatherings" in Tartus and Jableh.<br /><br />Seven bombs -- most of them suicide attacks -- hit Jableh and Tartus almost simultaneously on Monday morning.<br /><br />Syrian state media also reported the attacks but gave a total of 78 dead, including 45 in Jableh and 33 in Tartus.<br /><br />State television broadcast footage of a bus station that was hit by one blast in Tartus.<br /><br />Charred minibuses lay on their sides while others were still ablaze. A Facebook page sharing local news from Jableh, where another bus station was targeted, as was a government hospital, shared footage of people around fire trucks near several bombed-out cars.<br /><br />Both cities are strongholds of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad -- whose family hails from the village of Qardaha, just 25 kilometres east of Jableh.<br /><br />They have been relatively insulated from the war raging in Syria, which has killed at least 270,000 people since March 2011. <br /></div>