Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
ISIS, which has reportedly been running low on cash and converts, struck again earlier today in Syria with multiple bombings that left 119 people dead and hundreds more wounded.
As reported by the Daily Mail,
Bomb attacks in the central Syrian city of Homs and near a shrine outside Damascus killed at least 119 people as Washington pursued efforts for a ceasefire.
Double car bombings killed at least 57 people and wounded more than 200 people in the Zahra district of Homs on Sunday morning, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Later, at least 62 people were killed in a series of attacks near the Shiite shrine of Sayyida Zeinab south of the capital, according to the Observatory.
Attacks at the shrine included a car bombing and two suicide blasts, which ripped through the area.
In Homs, graphic footage from pro-Assad television channels showed charred corpses buried among rubble, damage to shop fronts and debris littering a wide area. Many cars were on fire, sending out plumes of black smoke. Wounded people walked around dazed.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, saying in an online statement that two of its members had driven explosives-laden cars into crowds of residents.
The Observatory said the attack was the second most deadly of its kind in Homs since 2011, and the deadliest for almost a year and a half.
The attacks come amidst a series of talks between the United States and Russian diplomats regarding the withdrawal of Russian forces from the region. Secretary John Kerry issued a statement on their progress stating,
‘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.
‘It is not yet done and I anticipate that our presidents, President (Barack) Obama and President (Vladimir) Putin, may well speak somewhere in the next days or so in order to try to complete this task,’ Kerry told a press conference with Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh.
Hopes for ceasefire, which had been due to take hold on Friday, had floundered as fresh violence shook Syria last week.
But Kerry was optimistic that it could still be implemented.
‘We are in fact making progress even as a I stand here today,’ he said. ‘We are closer to a ceasefire today than we have been.’
Closer than ever to peace in Syria? Tell that to the families of the 119 dead, Mr. Secretary. We can’t keep putting a band-aid on cancer and expect it to heal. ISIS is an evil which must be rooted out and destroyed.
May our next President have the courage of conviction to deal with this threat to freedom and democracy worldwide.
