ISIS has claimed responsibility for the series of bombings targeting strongholds of Syria's ruling regime Sunday that left at least 130 dead and scores of others injured, according to Syria's state-run SANA news agency.
The bombings began Sunday in the early afternoon when two explosions from two car bombs ripped through a pro-Assad area in Homs, reported CBS News. The death toll for that incident remains disputed, with SANA reporting 39 people dead, while London-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports the death toll as 46.
The twin blasts were soon followed by several more in Damascus when a suicide bomb car and two suicide bombers struck in the Sayyidah Zaynab district near the revered "Lady Zeynab" Shia Muslim shrine. Unlike the first bombing incident, there appeared to at least be some agreement on the death toll, with media sources saying that at least 83 were killed and 178 others injured.
It was initially unclear who was behind the attacks, but ISIS soon claimed responsibility via the Telegram messaging app, according to CNN.
Even with the militant group's admission, its still unclear why it did it. It's noted that ISIS is opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime and has been fighting against both the government, as well as other Islamic rebel groups in the area as it seeks to take control of more territory as it continues its bid to establish an Islamic Caliphate worldwide. However, this particular incident comes at a time when the United States and other world powers have been trying to negotiate a ceasefire in Syria's five-year civil war that has left at least 250,000 people dead and nearly 7 million internally displaced.
The peace efforts appear to have done little to deter the warring factions, though conversely, Sunday's incident did little to deter the proceedings of the ceasefire.
"We are closer to a ceasefire today than we have been, and I take nothing for granted about this," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters at a joint press conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, noting that a ceasefire is still "possible".
