ISIS Bus Bomb Kills Eight in Homs
A bus bomb killed eight people and injured 16 others in the government-held city of Homs on Tuesday, Reuters reported, citing Syrian state media.
The blast targeted the Akrama district of Homs city, near al-Baath University, Reuters said.
The so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the blast killed 11 Syrian troops.
Homs governor Talal Barazi told the state-run Ikhbariya TV that many of the passengers on the bus were students, according to Reuters.
ISIS has targeted government-held cities, including the capital Damascus, with a string of bombings in recent months in response to major territorial losses.
In May, ISIS claimed responsibility for a car bombing in Homs that killed four people and wounded 32 others.
Geneva Talks Resume Without Government Delegation
Peace talks in Geneva resumed on Tuesday in the absence of Syrian government negotiators, Agence France-Presse reported.
Negotiations continued only days after the government’s delegation quit the talks, saying that there will be no progress in negotiations as long as the Syrian opposition demands the removal of President Bashar al-Assad before the start of a political transition.
Damascus has yet to announce whether its representatives will return to the Swiss city this week. An unidentified source close to the government delegation told AFP that the Syrian government has yet to take a final decision on whether or not it will return to the negotiations.
Syria’s pro-government al-Watan newspaper also reported that the government’s delegation was not expected to leave Damascus either on Tuesday or Wednesday, AFP said.
Talks were supposed to run until December 15.
U.N. spokesperson Alessandra Vellucci said that the government’s delegation has been invited back to the peace talks, adding that the U.N.’s special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, “stands ready to engage them when they return,” AFP reported.
“We expect and we hope they will be here very soon,” she added.
In the absence of the Syrian government, de Mistura met with the opposition’s delegation on Tuesday. After the meeting, the opposition’s chief negotiator Nasr al-Hariri called on the U.N. to blame the Syrian government for sabotaging the peace process.
“Now it is the responsibility of the international community, of the U.N. and the special envoy to announce to the world who is the party who is rejecting the negotiations,” he told reporters.
Pentagon: U.S. Forces to Stay in Syria
Washington will maintain a “conditions-based” military presence in Syria to prevent the return of the so-called Islamic State, a Pentagon official told AFP on Tuesday.
“The United States will sustain a ‘conditions-based’ military presence in Syria to combat the threat of a terrorist-led insurgency, prevent the resurgence of ISIS, and to stabilize liberated areas,” Pentagon spokesperson Eric Pahon said.
He added that the U.S. will maintain its commitment on the ground “as long as we need to,” to prevent the return of the terrorist group.
The Pentagon officially says there are 503 U.S. troops in Syria. But its quarterly report, published this year, puts the figure at 1,720. According to AFP, the number of U.S. troops in the country is closer to 2,000.
Last week, the U.S.-led coalition said it will pull out 400 U.S. Marines from Syria since it has defeated ISIS in Raqqa. “We’re drawing down combat forces where it makes sense,” said Brig. Gen. Jonathan Braga, director of operations for the coalition.
Meanwhile, the U.S.-led coalition announced on Tuesday that fewer than 3,000 ISIS fighters remain in Iraq and Syria, Reuters reported.
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