Story highlights
- At least 43 recruits and soldiers die in dual attacks in Yemen, officials say
- Seven explosions hit two cities in Syria, killing at least 78 people
(CNN)A series of coordinated explosions tore through two Syrian government strongholds Monday in the coastal cities of Tartous and Jabla, killing at least 78 people, according to state media.
More than a thousand miles away in Yemen, dual attacks -- including one that struck at a military base -- left at least 43 recruits and soldiers dead, according to local security officials.
ISIS claimed responsibility for all of the attacks.
Both explosions in Yemen occurred in Aden: one at Al-Badr military base and the second in the city's Khormaksar district.
One bomber targeted a recruitment center near the military base, while a second blew himself up amid a group of soldiers in downtown Aden, according to the ISIS claim of responsibility circulated online.
At least 43 recruits and troops died in the attacks, security officials said. Dozens more were wounded, including 12 in critical condition, according to security officials.
The bombings follow a series of ISIS attacks in southern Yemen that have killed more than 100 people in two weeks, mainly in the Aden and Hadramout provinces.
Aden has had eight terror attacks this month alone. The city is home to the Yemeni government as it fights Shiite Houthi rebels who currently control the capital of Sanaa.
In Syria, three explosions struck a bus station in Tartous, and four hit residential areas of Jabla, according to Syria's state-run Syrian Arab News Agency.
The news agency said 78 people died. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at 101.
Tartous is one of the main destinations for Syrian soldiers on leave from combat and is the site of a large military garrison. It also hosts thousands of people who have fled fighting in other parts of the country.
Jabla is a stronghold of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has provided many officers and troops to the army.
The Russian Foreign Ministry denounced what it called "another bloody crime committed by terrorists on Syrian soil" and said the attacks seek to disrupt international efforts to end the violence in the country, which has been in a civil war since 2011. Russia is a strong ally of al-Assad's.
"We see this as a brazen challenge not only to the government and the Syrian citizens, but also to the credibility of the international community, which clearly expressed its collective stance in favor of inter-Syrian national harmony and peaceful political solution to (the) Syrian conflict," a ministry statement said.