Dozens Killed In Blasts In 2 Syrian Cities; ISIS Claims Responsibility

Powerful explosions were unleashed from two car bombs exploded in an area that's home to the minority sect of Syria's President Bashar Assad Sunday, in an attack that a rights monitoring group says killed at least 46. State media say 34 people died.

Hitting a central district of the city, the blasts wrecked cars that smoldered as rescue crews worked to help victims of the attack, according to photos from the scene. The force of the explosion destroyed windows and walls on nearby buildings and left a crater in the street.

NPR's Alison Meuse reports for our Newscast unit:

"The twin car bombs targeted Zahraa neighborhood of Homs, where pro-regime militias hold sway. Last month, ISIS claimed a similar double suicide attack on the area.

"Homs was once known as the capital of the Syrian revolution. The mass protests of 2011 were met with fire and steadily morphed into an armed rebellion. In the years that followed, government warplanes reduced much of the city to rubble — and the rebels to one besieged enclave. But the city remains vulnerable to suicide attacks."

The attack comes on the same day negotiators are reporting progress in talks about reaching a ceasefire in Syria.

Secretary of State John Kerry says a "provisional agreement" has been reached on a ceasefire — but the AP notes that as Kerry described a productive talk with Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, he also reiterated that the U.S. will not enter into a military alliance with Assad.

It's now up to Russia to speak to Assad, Kerry said. On Saturday, Assad told Spanish newspaper El Pais that he will "definitely" accept a cessation of hostilities.

But Assad also said that a truce can't be used by terrorists to improve their positions, and he listed other concerns about how a ceasefire is implemented. From the interview transcript:

"Q. So, there will be still some fighting even though there's this ceasefire, at least against some of the armed groups?

A. Yes, of course, like ISIS, like Al-Nusra, and other organizations or terrorist groups that belong to Al Qaeda. Now, Syria and Russia have announced four names: Ahrar al-Sham and Jaysh al-Islam [Army of Islam] and Al-Nusra and ISIS."

As NPR's Alice Fordham reminds us, in her report for Newscast:

"A group of international leaders earlier this month made a statement of a provisional agreement for a ceasefire but it was not implemented, although there has been some improvement in aid access. An amped-up Syrian government and Russian air campaign in northern Syria has displaced tens of thousands in recent weeks. Rebel commanders tell NPR they will not stop fighting as long as airstrikes continue."