Near-simultaneous bombings claimed by the Islamic State group struck in and around strongholds of the Syrian government and Kurdish troops Monday, killing at least 48 people in a wave of attacks that came a day after the militants lost a vital link to the outside world along the Syrian-Turkish border.

The IS-run Aamaq news agency said the attacks included six suicide bombings and one remotely detonated blast. Most targeted security forces.

The Britain-based Observatory, which maintains a network of contacts in Syria, put the overall death toll at 53, although Syrian state TV said 48 were killed. Conflicting casualty figures are common in the 5-year-old Syria civil war.

Jennifer Cafarella, a Syria expert with the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, said it was too soon to say if the attacks by the IS group were a reaction to its recent defeats along the border.

But she cautioned that setbacks for IS can lead to "a dangerous new phase" by the group, which sometimes resorts to "infiltration and spectacular attacks that exploit and widen rifts" between populations, groups and security forces in both western and northern Syria,

Turkey's recent intervention in the north has exposed major rifts and encouraged anti-Kurdish activity, Cafarella said in emails to The Associated Press. She said it was likely that as IS militants are pushed out of territory, they will increasingly target government and Kurdish areas.

"So it's a dangerous possibility that we're witnessing ISIS gear up for a campaign to expand westward into either or both regime and opposition territory as it loses to the anti-ISIS coalition," she said, using an acronym for the militant group.

The territorial losses at the border were the biggest blow to the militant group that also has suffered a series of recent battlefield setbacks in Syria and Iraq. Syrian rebels, backed by Turkish warplanes and tanks, continued to push IS fighters out of the border strip Monday, securing their hold on an area seized a day earlier.

In Hangzhou, China, meanwhile, President Barack Obama said the U.S. and Russia have not given up on negotiations to halt the bloodshed in Syria, but acknowledged that "gaps of trust" exist between the rival powers.

Significant sticking points remain in negotiations over creating a U.S.-Russian military partnership focusing firepower on "common enemies" in Syria, Obama said. He acknowledged that a meeting Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin did not yield a breakthrough.

A deal would depend on Moscow using its influence with Syrian President Bashar Assad to persuade him to ground planes and stop the assault on opposition forces.

Monday's bombings came in rapid succession during the morning rush hour, targeting the central city of Homs; a highly guarded Damascus suburb; the government stronghold of Tartus, where Russia has a major naval base; and Kurdish areas in northeastern Syria.

State TV showed massive damage at the Arzoneh bridge just outside Tartus along the international coastal highway. The report said the Tartus-Homs highway was closed briefly.

Dozens of burned and mangled cars sat in pools of water mixed with blood after the blaze was extinguished.

"My car caught fire and army soldiers pulled us out of the car," a survivor told state TV from al-Bassel Hospital.

IS and the Observatory said the target was a checkpoint at Tartus' southern entrance. The militant group said it sent three suicide bombers to the area, the first of them in a car. Two followed after security and rescuers responded.

State TV said at least 35 were killed. The Observatory put the figure at 38, including an army colonel. Dozens were wounded.

The coastal city is a popular beach resort among Syrians, with many coming from government controlled areas, particularly ahead of a major Muslim holiday next week.

The Islamic State group claimed suicide bombings in Tartus and neighboring Jableh that killed over 160 people in May.

Areas controlled by Assad's forces have had several bombings and other attacks claimed by both IS and al-Qaida-linked militant groups.

Another of Monday's bombings occurred in the Damascus suburb of Sabbourah, a major security breach in the heavily guarded area. The state-run SANA news agency said the attack killed one person, while the opposition-run Observatory said three were killed.

IS said a suicide car bomb targeted a military checkpoint west of Damascus.

"It's an area that houses officers and their families. Even before the revolution, it was carefully guarded," said opposition media activist Yousef al-Boustani, referring to the 2011 uprising against Assad that began with peaceful protests demanding reform.

Police chief Maj. Gen. Jamal Bittar told state TV that three attackers were in the car that was seen by security forces. They fired at the car, forcing two passengers to get out and the driver to blow it up, Bittar said. Another bomber blew himself up as he was arrested, killing the security officer and wounding three civilians, he added.

A car bomb struck a military checkpoint in the central provincial capital of Homs, killing three soldiers and a civilian, and wounding 10 others, according to the governor of Homs.

The city, which is Syria's third-largest, is largely under government control, with only one neighborhood still held by rebels. The bomb exploded in the government-held Bab Tadmor district. The Observatory said four soldiers were killed.

A suicide bomber on a motorcycle in the northeastern city of Hasakeh killed eight people, SANA said. The IS news agency said the attack targeted a checkpoint manned by Kurdish forces.

Government troops withdrew from Hasakeh in August after street battles with Kurdish forces, which took control of the city, although the police force stayed in place. The Observatory said the blast killed five Kurdish police, the Asayesh, and three civilians.

IS said it also detonated a bomb in the northeastern city of Qamishli, targeting Kurdish fighters. The Observatory confirmed a bomb but had no casualty figures.

———

Associated Press writers Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report.</s>Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption IS claims wave of bombings that kills dozens

At least 40 people have been killed in bombings in mainly government-held areas of Syria, state media report.

Four attacks took place within an hour in Tartous, Homs and in a suburb of Damascus, with one in Hassakeh, which is dominated by Kurdish forces.

The deadliest incident was outside Tartous, home to a Russian naval base and in the heartland of President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect.

The Islamic State (IS) group said it was behind the attacks.

The group made the claim in a statement carried by its affiliated news agency, Amaq.

'Crowd targeted'

The attacks took place between 08:00 and 09:00 (05:00-06:00 GMT) on Monday.

Syria's official Sana news agency reported that 30 civilians had been killed and 45 others injured in the Tartous countryside.

First, a car bomb was detonated on the Arzoneh motorway bridge, a local police source told Sana.

Then, as a crowd gathered at the scene to help the wounded, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt, the source added.

Tartous had been relatively unscathed by Syria's five-year civil war until May, when a suicide bomb attack on a bus station by IS militants left dozens dead.

In the central city of Homs, four people were killed and 10 injured when a car bomb exploded at the entrance to the Bab Tadmour district, Sana reported.

Image copyright EPA Image caption The bomb in Homs targeted a military checkpoint, according to the provincial governor

The governor of Homs province said the car bomb targeted a military checkpoint and that the casualties were soldiers.

One person was killed in a bombing on a road in Saboura, a heavily-guarded western suburb of Damascus, a police source told Sana.

Opposition activist Yousef al-Boustani said the area was home to security officers and their families and that the attack represented a major security breach.

In Hassakeh, an explosives-packed motorcycle was blown up at the Marsho roundabout, killing five civilians and injuring two others, Sana said.

Image copyright EPA Image caption The area targeted in Saboura is home to security officers and their families

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group that monitors the conflict in Syria through a network of sources, said three of the dead were Kurdish security personnel, known as the Asayish.

The Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) militia took near complete control of the north-eastern city last month after a week of clashes with government troops.

The Syrian Observatory put the total death toll for Monday's attacks at 47.

The attacks came as US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed a ceasefire deal for Syria on the sidelines of the G20 summit in China.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama have so far failed to reach a deal to ease fighting in Syria

Mr Obama said he and Mr Putin had had "productive" discussions and had agreed to continue the search for a comprehensive truce.

The US president said: "Given the gaps of trust that exist, that's a tough negotiation and we haven't yet closed the gaps in a way where we think it would actually work.

"But my instructions to Secretary [of State John] Kerry and Mr Putin's instructions to [Foreign Minister Sergei] Lavrov were to keep working at it over the next several days."

Mr Putin said the talks were "on the right track" and that there was "some alignment" with the US.

It had been hoped a deal on a ceasefire and humanitarian deliveries would be announced jointly by Mr Kerry and Mr Lavrov on Monday, but it was not forthcoming.

The US is particularly concerned by the deteriorating conditions in and around Syria's second city, Aleppo, where rebel-held districts are once again under siege after government forces advanced on Sunday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also at the G20, said he had urged world powers to create a "safe zone" in Syria, with a "no-fly" element, that would help control the flow of migrants.</s>Blasts hit government-held and Kurdish parts of Syria, several killed

BEIRUT, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Five explosions hit government-controlled areas and a city held by a Kurdish militia in Syria on Monday morning, killing several people, state media and a monitor said.

It was not immediately clear if there was any link between the blasts reported along a road outside Damascus, in the state-held cities of Homs and Tartous - which hosts a Russian military base - and in northeastern city of Hasaka, which is controlled by Kurdish YPG fighters.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks which all took place between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. local time (0500-0600 GMT).

More than five years of civil war have cut Syria into a patchwork of territories held by the state and an array of armed factions - including Islamic State which attacked the Mediterranean city of Tartous in May.

Two explosions hit the Arzouna bridge area at the entrance to Tartous on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and state news agency SANA said.

The Observatory put the death toll at 32, including members of the Syrian military, and said the number was likely to rise. The head of a Tartous hospital told SANA 35 people were killed and 45 wounded.

Syrian state television said the first explosion was a car bomb and the second was a suicide belt detonated as rescue workers came to the scene of the first incident.

The blasts hit during Tartous's Summer Festival. Its beaches recently featured in a government tourism video circulated on social media inviting people to visit Syria's Mediterranean coastline.

A car bomb struck the city of Homs at the Bab Tadmur roundabout at the entrance to the al-Zahra neighbourhood, killing three people, state media said.

The Observatory said the Homs explosion hit an army checkpoint and two officers were killed.

There was an explosion near the town of al Saboura, along a road which leads onto the Beirut-Damascus highway, killing one person and injuring three, according to a police commander quoted on state television.

A motorbike also exploded in the centre of the northeastern city of Hasaka, which is controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia.

The Observatory said the blast killed three members of the YPG-affiliated security force known as the Asayish, and injured others.

The Kurdish YPG militia, a critical part of the U.S.-backed campaign against Islamic State, took near complete control of Hasaka city in late August after a week of fighting with the government.

The YPG already controls swathes of northern Syria where Kurdish groups have established de facto autonomy since the start of the Syrian war in 2011. (Reporting by Lisa Barrington; Additional reporting by Kinda Makieh in Damascus and Ahmed Tolba in Cairo; Editing by Andrew Heavens)</s>The Latest: IS claims blast in northeastern Syria

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The Latest on the conflict in Syria (all times local):

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a bomb blast that killed at least five people in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakeh.

The extremist group's Aamaq media agency posted that the Monday morning suicide attack killed and wounded 15 people.

Syrian state media said the attacker blew himself up on his motorcycle at a traffic circle.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said three Kurdish Syrian police officers were killed in the blast.

At least 38 people were killed in a string of bomb blasts in government-controlled territories. The attacks were timed closely together, though the Islamic State group did not claim responsibility for the attacks in Homs, Tartus, and the Damascus suburb of Saboura.

Syrian state media has increased the death toll from a string of bombings around the country up to at least 38.

State news agency SANA reports that twin blasts at the entrance to coastal city of Tartus Monday morning killed at least 30 people. The agency also reported blasts in the central city of Homs, the suburbs of the capital Damascus, and the northeastern city of Hasakeh.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, which maintains a network of contacts inside the country, put the toll at 47 dead. Conflicting casualty figures are common in the Syria war.

Syrian state media is reporting that multiple bomb blasts have struck government and military targets around the country.

State television Monday morning reported blasts in the coastal city of Tartus, the central city of Homs, the suburbs of the capital Damascus, and the northeastern city of Hassakeh.

Casualty reports were still coming in. The governor of Homs province says a car bomb struck a military checkpoint in the provincial capital, Homs, killing two soldiers and injuring four others, one critically.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group also reports a blast in the northeastern city of Qamishli as well.</s>At least 18 people were killed and dozens wounded in a series of bombings across mostly government-controlled areas of Syria on Monday, state media reported.

The blasts hit government-held Tartus and Homs, as well as Hasakeh, which is mostly controlled by Kurdish forces but where the regime maintains a presence.

State media said at least 11 people had been killed and 45 injured in a double bomb attack just outside the city of Tartus, in the coastal province of the same name, which is a stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad's government.

"Two terrorist blasts on Arzuna bridge, the first a car bomb and the second a suicide bomber who detonated his explosive belt when people gathered to help the wounded," state television said.

State media also reported five people killed in Hasakeh, in the northeast of the country.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the blast hit a checkpoint belonging to the Kurdish Asayesh security forces.

And state media also reported a car bomb at the entrance to the Al-Zahra neighbourhood in central Homs city, which is controlled by the government.

It said at least two people were killed and four wounded in the bombing, which is the latest in a series of attacks targeting Al-Zahra neighbourhood, where most residents are Alawite, the sect to which Assad belongs.

State media also reported another bomb attack on a road west of the capital Damascus, but gave no immediate toll in the blast.

The Observatory said that attack targeted a checkpoint and gave a toll of three dead.</s>Explosions in government-controlled areas of Syria and a province held by Kurdish militia killed dozens on Monday, while the United States and Russia failed to make concrete progress towards a ceasefire.

Six explosions hit west of the capital Damascus, in the government-held cities of Homs and Tartous – which hosts a Russian military base – and the Kurdish-controlled northeastern province of Hasaka between 8am and 9am, state media and a monitor said. It was not clear if the blasts were linked and there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

More than five years of civil war have cut Syria into a patchwork of territories held by the government and an often competing array of armed factions, including Kurdish militia fighters, a loose coalition of rebels groups, and Islamic State.

The United States and Russia have been trying to broker a new truce after a cessation of hostilities agreed in February unravelled within weeks, with Washington accusing Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s forces of violating the pact.

Their efforts were complicated on Sunday as government forces and their allies again laid siege to rebel-held eastern Aleppo, Syria’s largest city before the war which Mr Assad is determined to fully recapture. His gains have relied heavily on Russian air support since September last year.

US president Barack Obama and Russian president Vladimir Putin had a longer-than-expected discussion of about 90 minutes on Monday about whether, and how, they could agree a deal, a senior US administration official said.

Meeting at the G20 summit in China, they discussed getting humanitarian aid into the country, reducing violence, and co-operating on combating militant groups, the official said. But in talks earlier on Monday, US secretary of state John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov were unable to come to terms on a ceasefire for the second time in two weeks, with US officials stressing they would walk away if a pact could not be reached soon.

“If an agreement can be reached, we want to do so urgently, because of the humanitarian situation. However, we must ensure that it is an effective agreement,” the official said. Russia says it cannot agree to a deal unless opposition fighters, backed by the United States and Middle East allies, are separated from al-Qaeda-linked militants they overlap with in some areas.

Two of the explosions on Monday hit the Arzouna bridge area at the entrance to the Mediterranean city of Tartous, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and state news agency Sana said. Islamic State attacked Tartous in May. The observatory and a city hospital put the death toll at 35, including members of the Syrian military, and said the number was likely to rise.

Syrian state television said the first explosion was a car bomb and the second a suicide belt detonated as rescue workers arrived. The blasts hit during a summer festival at Tartous, whose beaches recently featured in a government tourism video.

A car bomb, meanwhile, struck Homs, a city about 80km east of Tartous, which has repeatedly been hit by bombings claimed by Islamic State. State media said three people were killed, while the observatory said the explosion hit an army checkpoint and four officers were killed.

West of Damascus, there was an explosion near the town of al Saboura, killing one person and injuring three, according to a police commander quoted by state media. A motorbike also exploded in the centre of the northeastern city of Hasaka, which is controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia.

The observatory said the blast killed three members of a YPG-affiliated security force known as the Asayish, and injured others. It said a percussion bomb also went off in the province’s Qamishli city.</s>A string of bombings claimed by ISIS killed dozens across Syria, as Washington and Moscow failed to agree on a deal to stem the country's violence.

The blasts killed at least 48 people and wounded dozens more, a day after the jihadist group lost the last stretch of the Syria-Turkey border under its control.

In China, where world powers were gathered for the G20 meeting, US President Barack Obama and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin touted 'productive' talks and 'some alignment' on Syria.

But the two powers failed to produce an expected deal to ease the violence in Syria, where more than 290,000 people have been killed and more than half the population displaced since March 2011.

The latest carnage came in a series of blasts, the deadliest of which was a double bombing in the coastal province of Tartus, a stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad's government and Russia's naval and air force base in the area.

The bombings hit a bridge outside the provincial capital Tartus city, killing at least 35 people and wounding 43, state media said.

The blasts targeted the Arzuna bridge, 'the first a car bomb and the second a suicide bomber who detonated his explosive belt when people gathered to help the wounded,' according to state television.

Tartus has been largely spared the worst violence of Syria's conflict since it began with anti-government protests, and has become a refuge for many Syrians fleeing the fighting.

In the northeastern city of Hasakeh, a bomber on a motorbike killed six members of the Kurdish security forces and two civilians.

The city is mostly controlled by Kurdish forces, though the regime is also present.

In central Homs city, the target was the Al-Zahraa neighbourhood, whose residents mostly belong to the same Alawite sect as Assad and have regularly been targeted by devastating bombings.

Four people were killed there on Monday, in a car bomb that hit a checkpoint at the district's entrance.

State television broadcast images from the aftermath of the blast in Homs, showing rubble strewn on the streets and smoke rising from the charred remains of vehicles.

An additional attack hit the Al-Sabura road west of the capital Damascus, with state media saying one person had been killed and three wounded.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said that attack targeted a checkpoint and gave a toll of three dead.

The ISIS-affiliated Amaq agency carried a statement saying the jihadist group was behind a 'string of simultaneous suicide attacks'.

They came a day after Turkish forces and allied rebels seized the last part of the Turkish-Syrian border under ISIS control.

Turkey began an operation inside Syria on August 24, targeting both ISIS but also Syrian Kurdish forces that have been a key US partner in the fight against the jihadist group.</s>Blasts kill dozens in Syria as U.S.-Russia truce talks make little progress

BEIRUT/HANGZHOU, China, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Explosions in government-controlled areas of Syria and a province held by Kurdish militia killed dozens on Monday, while the United States and Russia failed to make concrete progress towards a ceasefire.

Six explosions hit west of the capital Damascus, in the government-held cities of Homs and Tartous - which hosts a Russian military base - and the Kurdish-controlled northeastern province of Hasaka between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. (0500-0600 GMT), state media and a monitor said.

It was not clear if the blasts were linked and there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

More than five years of civil war have cut Syria into a patchwork of territories held by the government and an often competing array of armed factions, including Kurdish militia fighters, a loose coalition of rebels groups, and Islamic State.

The United States and Russia have been trying to broker a new truce after a cessation of hostilities agreed in February unravelled within weeks, with Washington accusing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces of violating the pact.

Their efforts were complicated on Sunday as government forces and their allies again laid siege to rebel-held eastern Aleppo, Syria's largest city before the war which Assad is determined to fully recapture. His gains have relied heavily on Russian air support since September last year.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a longer-than-expected discussion of about 90 minutes on Monday about whether, and how, they could agree a deal, a senior U.S. administration official said.

Meeting at the G20 summit in China, they discussed getting humanitarian aid into the country, reducing violence, and cooperating on combating militant groups, the official said.

But in talks earlier on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were unable to come to terms on a ceasefire for the second time in two weeks, with U.S. officials stressing they would walk away if a pact could not be reached soon.

"If an agreement can be reached, we want to do so urgently, because of the humanitarian situation. However, we must ensure that it is an effective agreement," the official said.

Russia says it cannot agree to a deal unless opposition fighters, backed by the United States and Middle East allies, are separated from al Qaeda-linked militants they overlap with in some areas.

For Washington, the priority is stabilising Syria so as to destroy Islamic State, which controls territory both there and in neighbouring Iraq.

NATO Turkey ally on Sunday said rebels it was backing had gained control of all areas on its border that had been held by the jihadists, depriving the ultra-hardline Islamist group of its main route to the outside world.

The announcement came some 10 days after Turkey launched its first major military incursion into Syria since the start of the war in 2011, an operation aimed as much at preventing further Kurdish territorial gains as at driving back Islamic State.

Two of the explosions on Monday hit the Arzouna bridge area at the entrance to the Mediterranean city of Tartous, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and state news agency SANA said. Islamic State attacked Tartous in May.

The Observatory and a city hospital put the death toll at 35, including members of the Syrian military, and said the number was likely to rise.

Syrian state television said the first explosion was a car bomb and the second a suicide belt detonated as rescue workers arrived. The blasts hit during a summer festival at Tartous, whose beaches recently featured in a government tourism video.

A car bomb meanwhile struck Homs, a city around 80 km (50 miles) east of Tartous which has repeatedly been hit by bombings claimed by Islamic State. State media said three people were killed, while the Observatory said the explosion hit an army checkpoint and four officers were killed.

West of Damascus, there was an explosion near the town of al Saboura, killing one person and injuring three, according to a police commander quoted by state media.

A motorbike also exploded in the centre of the northeastern city of Hasaka, which is controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia.

The Observatory said the blast killed three members of a YPG-affiliated security force known as the Asayish, and injured others. It said a percussion bomb also went off in the province's Qamishli city.

The Kurdish YPG militia, a critical part of the U.S.-backed campaign against Islamic State, took almost complete control of Hasaka city in late August after a week of fighting with the government.

Islamic State confirmed that a blast in Hasaka took place but did not say whether its fighters were involved.

The YPG already controls swathes of northern Syria where Kurdish groups have established de facto autonomy since the start of the Syrian war in 2011, much to the alarm of neighbouring Turkey.

Ankara sees the YPG as an extension of Kurdish militants who have waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey and fears the creation of a Kurdish enclave in northern Syria would fuel their separatist ambitions. (Additional reporting by Kinda Makieh in Damascus and Ahmed Tolba in Cairo, Lesley Wroughton in Washington; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Giles Elgood)</s>BEIRUT (Reuters) - Five explosions hit government-controlled areas and a city held by a Kurdish militia in Syria on Monday morning, killing several people, state media and a monitor said.

It was not immediately clear if there was any link between the blasts reported in the state-held cities of Tartous and Homs and along a road outside Damascus – and if they had been coordinated with the attack in Hasaka.

No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, which all took place between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. local time.

Two explosions hit the Arzouna Bridge area at the entrance to the northwestern coastal city of Tartous, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and state news agency SANA said.

Those explosions killed at least 11 people and wounded 45, a source in the Tartous police told SANA.

Syrian state media said the first explosion was a car bomb and the second was a suicide belt detonated as rescue workers came to the scene of the first incident.

A car bomb struck the city of Homs at the entrance to the Bab Tadmur neighborhood, SANA said. Homs’ health director told SANA that hospitals had received two bodies and seven injured people. The Observatory said the Homs explosion hit an army checkpoint and two officers were killed.

There was an explosion near the town of al Saboura, along a road which leads into the Beirut-Damascus highway, according to a police commander quoted on state media.

A motor bike also exploded in the center of the northeastern city of Hasaka, which is controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia.

The Observatory said the blast killed three members of the YPG-affiliated security force known as the Asayish, and injured others.</s>Turkey’s cross-border incursions into Syria have achieved Ankara’s primary objective of preventing Syrian Kurds from uniting the eastern end of their enclave south of the border with the western sector.

Turkish tanks, special forces and insurgent clients have seized a 91km belt of territory, 3-4km deep, running from Jarablus to Azaz. Turkish forces have also sent a probe at least 39km into Syrian territory, perhaps with the intention of taking al-Bab.

Al-Bab, northeast of Aleppo, is a key objective of the US-backed, Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces, which last month drove Islamic State out of the strategic town of Manbij after a hard-fought battle.

As soon at they crossed the border, Turkish troops and planes attacked the Kurdish forces and ordered them to pull out of Manbij and withdraw to territory west of the Euphrates river. The Kurds, however, have local supporters in both Manbij and Jarablus.

Turkey’s secondary aim was to drive Islamic State (also known as Isis) from the border zone and cut off its capital, Raqqa, as well as other towns and villages it holds, from the Turkish supply route that has kept the conflict going.

It is significant that Islamic State’s fighters did not attempt to defend themselves from the Turkish onslaught, as they had during the Kurdish offensives.

The Turkish occupation of this strip of territory could become an existential threat to the Islamists if the Turks cut off total access to fighters and supplies.

Ankara’s belated decision to pivot away from Islamic State coincides with its loss of territory in both Syria and Iraq

Turkish public opinion also compelled the government to act after last month’s major suicide bombing that killed 54 in Gaziantep.

This operation was the latest in a series of deadly strikes in Turkey, demonstrating the terror group was not prepared to refrain from attacking a key sponsor.

The beneficiaries of the Turkish pivot are Syrian clients from groups associated with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and ethnic Turk (Turkmen) Sultan Murat brigades, both established by Ankara, as well as the moderate fundamentalist Faylaq al-Sham and hardline Ansar al-Sham and Nour al-Din al-Zenki.

The latter two are allied closely with Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra), al-Qaeda’s official Syrian offshoot, the main component of the coalition ruling Syria’s northwestern Idlib province.

Turkey seeks to unify these groups in a single force under the FSA logo. Most of their fighters are not “moderates” or jihadists but takfiris, Muslims of a radical persuasion who accuse Muslims who disagree with them of apostasy and people of other faiths of heresy.

Like Islamic State, takfiris seek to impose their reactionary ideology, derived from Saudi Wahhabism, and conservative social controls over “Sham” – greater Syria comprising Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and elsewhere.

South of Aleppo city, government forces have taken territory lost to Ahrar al-Sham and allies in mid-August and have reimposed a full siege on eastern insurgent-held quarters.

Government negotiators have also secured a truce in Muadamiya, suburb of Damascus, and are negotiating over the al-Waer suburb of Homs.

These arrangements involve the departure of insurgents and the opening up of besieged areas. It is unlikely civilians, who number in tens of thousands in these townships, will be asked to leave, as were the 3,200 recently evacuated from Daraya.

Talks between Washington and Moscow have stalled as the American plan, according to US sources, demands that Russia and the Syrian government halt attacks on insurgent areas without the certainty of reciprocity.

The US has pledged to include Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (ex-Nusra) in bombings along with Islamic State once Russia persuades Damascus to agree.
Several bombings kill at least 40 people in government and Kurdish held territory across Syria, including Tartus, Homs, Al-Hasakah and Damascus. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility.