IS Blasts in Syria Regime Heartland Kill more than 148

More than 148 people were killed Monday in bombings claimed by the Islamic State group in northwestern Syria, the deadliest attacks to date in the regime's coastal heartland.

Seven near-simultaneous explosions targeted bus stations, hospitals and other civilian sites in the seaside cities of Jableh and Tartus, which until now had been relatively insulated from Syria's five-year war.

The unprecedented attacks on strongholds of President Bashar Assad's regime came as IS faces mounting pressure in Syria and neighboring Iraq, where a major offensive to retake the jihadist-held city of Fallujah is underway.

A hundred people were killed in Jableh and another 48 in Tartus to the south, including children, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.

Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said they were "without a doubt the deadliest attacks" on the two cities since the start of the war.

IS claimed the blasts in a statement, saying they were in retaliation for Syrian regime and Russian air strikes against the jihadists and vowed to carry out "more devastating and bitter attacks".

IS is not known to have a presence in Syria's coastal provinces, where its jihadist rival and al-Qaida's local branch al-Nusra Front is much more prominent.

But IS, notorious for using deadly sleeper cells to attack its enemies, suggested the creation of a "wilayat al-Sahel" or Islamic province for the coastal area.

"I'm shocked, this is the first time I hear sounds like this," said Mohsen Zayyoud, a 22-year-old student in Jableh.

- 'In the heart of the battle' -

"I thought the war was over and that I could walk safely. But I was surprised to see that we're still in the heart of the battle," he said.

In Tartus a 42-year-old bank employee was just as stunned.

"It's the first time we hear explosions in Tartus, and the first time we see dead people or body parts here," Shady Osman said.

Jableh lies in Latakia province, while Tartus is the capital of the adjacent governorate of the same name.

Both have remained relatively secure even as the war has raged in Latakia province's rural northeast and throughout the country.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon condemned the "terrorist attacks."

Human Rights Watch also denounced the bombings saying they targeted civilians and therefore "would appear to constitute war crimes."

The attacks began at 9:00 am (0600 GMT) with three explosions at a busy bus station in Tartus, where regime ally Russia has long maintained a naval facility.

The Observatory said one car bomb detonated first, and as people began to flock to the site two suicide bombers detonated explosive belts.

A police source in the city confirmed a car bomb had hit the entrance to the station and two suicide bombers attacked inside.

Charred mini-buses were seen laying on their sides and others were still ablaze, in footage from state television.

Around 15 minutes after the Tartus blasts, the explosions began in Jableh, 60 miles (40 kilometers) to the north.

- Blast inside hospital -

The Observatory said four blasts -- one car bomb and three suicide attackers -- targeted a bus station, a hospital, and a power station.

One attacker detonated explosives inside the emergency room of the state-run hospital after carrying victims of the first attack there.

A police officer told AFP a car bomb also targeted the Asaad hospital in the city.

Russia condemned the attacks, with the Kremlin saying they "demonstrate yet again how fragile the situation is in Syria and the need to take energetic measures to relaunch peace talks."

The French government slammed the bombings as "heinous."

World powers have struggled to rekindle U.N.-brokered peace negotiations which fizzled in April when Syria's opposition walked away in frustration at stalling progress on the country's dire humanitarian situation.

Syria's conflict has evolved from a popular uprising to a multi-faceted war that has killed more than 270,000 people and displaced millions.

IS seized control of large parts of Syria and Iraq in mid-2014, declaring an Islamic "caliphate" and spreading its influence.

The group has claimed deadly attacks in the West and throughout the Middle East, including twin bombings on military forces in Yemen's second city of Aden on Monday that killed at least 41 people.

Monday's bombings were reminiscent of a string of attacks in 1986 in northwestern Syria -- including in Tartus -- that killed 144 people and which Syrian officials blamed on the regime of Saddam Hussein in neighboring Iraq.