Kuwait news agency (Kuna)
The US on Monday strongly condemned as "horrific" bombings in two areas in Syria claimed by ISIS which killed and injured many civilians.
"We will continue to lead the global coalition to degrade and defeat Daesh (ISIS) so that it can no longer brutalize those who reject its tormented worldview," read a State Department statement quoting spokesman Mark Toner.
The actions of the "Al-Assad dictatorship" have helped ISIS gather support, he said, after multiple blasts targeted bus stations and a hospital in the towns of Jablah in the northwest province of Latakia, and the port city of Tartus.
Toner called on the Al-Assad regime to stop its escalating attacks on Aleppo and Daraya, and its besiegement of towns and obstruction of humanitarian access.
"These actions demonstrate a disregard for the Cessation of Hostilities, UN Security Council Resolution 2254, and efforts to advance a political solution to the conflict, as well as its own commitments to facilitate full access for humanitarian relief supplies," he said.
He said these concerns were raised by State Secretary John Kerry in a call with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier on Monday.
Kerry urged the Russians to press the regime to cease at once airstrikes against opposition forces and innocent civilians in Aleppo and the Damascus suburbs, he said.
Russia has a "special responsibility" in this regard, he said, "to press the regime to end its offensive attacks and strikes that kill civilians, (and) immediately allow relief supplies."
Toner described this as an "ongoing commitment" of the US. "It’s incumbent on us to exert that kind of influence on the opposition groups on the ground." Meanwhile, Toner said the Assad regime was trying to gain a "tactical advantage" by attacking civilians, describing this as "frankly barbaric." He also said the regime was repeatedly launching attacks on supply lines and other tactical pieces that belong to the moderate opposition in order to gain a strategic advantage on the ground,