Islamic State Goes on Killing Rampage at Holy Site

At least 45 people killed 40 injured in the blast near Sayyidah Zainab in Damascus

At least 45 people were killed and around 110 others wounded in three bomb blasts near a revered Shia shrine in south of the Syrian capital Damascus.

Hezbollah is a staunch ally of Syria's President Bashar Assad and has dispatched fighters to bolster his troops against the uprising that began in March 2011 with anti-government protests. The head of the Syrian government delegation says the opposition is not serious about what are meant to be U.N.-hosted indirect peace talks and is trying to derail them with preconditions. "If the regime insists on continuing to commit these crimes then the HNC delegation's presence in Geneva will not be justified", coordinator Riad Hijab warned in a statement in Arabic posted online Saturday.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged all sides to put the interests of Syrians above their own. Despite the opposition coalition's move toward joining the Geneva talks, analysts are pessimistic.Nadim Shehadi of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston sees little chance of success.

The negotiations will start with proximity talks, with United Nations diplomats travelling back and forth between the rival delegations in separate rooms, and are expected to last for six months. Opposition delegates were due to meet with envoys from Western countries yesterday morning, followed later by preliminary talks between the opposition and de Mistura.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 29 civilians, including five children, were also killed in the attack. "The sieges have become total", she added. Islamic State claimed responsibility for Sunday's attacks in the Sayeda Zeinab district of Damascus, according to Amaq, a news agency that supports the militant group. The suburb is named after an important Shiite mosque.

The Sayyida Zeinab shrine is believed to hold the grave of the granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammed and is a pilgrimage site for Shia Muslims from around the world.

The dispute over the rightful successor to the prophet is the source of the major Sunni-Shia schism in Islam. Jordanian authorities have cited security concerns for the bottle neck, saying many refugees come from areas controlled by the Islamic State group and need to undergo strict vetting.

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