Top Syrian officer among dozens killed in Homs suicide attacks

A top Syrian intelligence chief was among dozens killed in suicide attacks by Al Qaeda’s former branch in Syria in the government-held city of Homs on Saturday.
Gen Hassan Daabul, also a close confidant of president Bashar Al Assad, was among the dead after the attacks that threaten UN efforts for peace talks in Geneva.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 42 people were killed, but the provincial governor put the figure at 30 dead.
Bashar Al Jaafari, the regime’s envoy to the talks in Geneva, said Syria would retaliate.
"The terrorist attacks that targeted Homs today were a clear message from the sponsors of terrorism to Geneva," he said. "This message has been received ... and we won’t allow for it to pass without retaliation."
He also demanded that all opposition parties at the talks condemn the attack, saying otherwise Damascus would consider them as "accomplices of terrorism".
United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura said the attacks were designed to "spoil" the peace talks.
The attack was claimed by Jabhat Fatah Al Sham, which remains blacklisted as a terrorist group by the UN and Western governments despite renouncing links with Al Qaeda last year. Like its extremist rival ISIL, Fatah Al Sham is not party to a ceasefire between government forces and rebel groups taking part in the Geneva talks.
Fatah Al Sham said five of its militants took part in the assault but Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman there were at least six attackers, and "several of them blew themselves up near the headquarters of state security and military intelligence".
Security forces locked down the city centre after the bombings.
Homs has been under near full government control since May 2014 when rebels withdrew from the centre under a UN-brokered truce deal. But it has seen repeated bombings since, including twin attacks last year that killed 64.
The Observatory, a Britain-based monitoring group, said three people in the Waer neighbourhood, the last rebel enclave of Homs, were among 13 people killed in regime air strikes across the country on Saturday.
Six civilians were killed in raids on the besieged rebel-held town of Douma in Damascus province, and four in Khan Sheikhun, a town controlled by rebel and extremists in Idlib province.
The Homs attacks came a day after 77 people, mostly civilians, were killed in a suicide bombing by ISIL in the northern Syrian town of Al Bab, which was captured this week by Turkish-backed rebels.
In Geneva, Syrian government and opposition negotiators were to continue meetings with Mr de Mistura despite little hope for a breakthrough.
After meeting the UN envoy Friday, the Syrian regime envoy Mr Jaafari said he would study a UN paper on the "format" of the talks, but gave no indication that the negotiations had any momentum.
The main opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) described its meeting with Mr de Mistura as "positive", without elaborating on a possible path forward.
During three previous rounds of talks in Geneva last year, the rivals never sat down at the same table, instead leaving Mr de Mistura to shuttle between them.
The HNC has said it wants to meet the government face-to-face this time.
At the end of Friday’s negotiations, de Mistura’s acting chief of staff Michael Contet signalled there was no immediate prospect of direct talks.
Syria’s opposition is in a much weaker position compared to the last round of UN-brokered talks in April last year, notably after losing their stronghold in eastern Aleppo.
Despite the setbacks on the ground, the HNC still insists that Mr Al Assad leave power. Damascus says the president’s future is not up for discussion.
For the UN, the talks are about "political transition", a term contained in Security Council resolution 2254 that provides the framework for the peace process to end a six-year war which has killed more than 310,000 people.
"Transition means transferring the authorities to a transitional governance body," opposition negotiator Basma Kodmani said Friday, specifying that in this body "there is no role for Bashar Al Assad".
Mr de Mistura has admitted he was "not expecting miracles", but hoped this round could help build some momentum towards an eventual deal.

Source: The National