This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/16/world/middleeast/syria-violence.html

The article has changed 10 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 7 Version 8
Dozens Killed as Explosions Hit Syrian University Dozens Killed as Explosions Hit Syrian University
(about 3 hours later)
At least two deadly explosions possibly caused by aircraft missiles or bombs devastated the campus of Aleppo University in Syria on Tuesday as students were taking exams, a major escalation of the violent struggle for control of the country’s largest city. The opposition and government blamed each other for the blasts, among the worst since the Syrian conflict began nearly two years ago. BEIRUT, Lebanon — At least two deadly explosions, possibly caused by airstrikes or bombs, devastated the campus of Aleppo University in Syria on Tuesday as students were taking exams, a major escalation of the violent struggle for control of the country’s largest city. The opposition and the government blamed each other for the blasts, among the worst since the Syrian conflict began nearly two years ago.
Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, said at a Security Council meeting that 82 people were killed and 192 wounded in the explosions, which he called a terrorist attack, the Syrian government’s blanket terminology for the armed insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad. Opposition sympathizers said more than 50 people were killed. Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, said at a Security Council meeting that 82 people had been killed and 192 wounded in the explosions, which he called a terrorist attack. Opposition supporters said that more than 50 people had been killed.
The university’s own press office appeared to have issued a statement accusing Syrian Air Force MIG fighter planes of targeting the campus in two missile attacks three minutes apart, destroying buildings and causing “massive destruction in the surrounding roads.” The statement denounced the attacks as a “criminal act.” But it was unclear if the statement, which was posted on an opposition Facebook page, reflected the view of the leadership of the public university, which is in a government-controlled part of the city. The carnage at the public university, the premier educational institution in Aleppo, shocked Syrians inured to violence and brought an unusually intense round of speculation and mutual recrimination.
Aleppo, in northern Syria, has essentially been under siege since July, with insurgents and government forces in a stalemate. Once the commercial epicenter of Syria, Aleppo has been struck by numerous shellings, bombings and airstrikes. But the university has been conducting classes and trying to provide some appearance of normalcy despite the mayhem and deprivation that have ravaged other parts of the city, and the campus area had been largely spared until Tuesday. The toll was extraordinarily high even for Syria’s bloody conflict. The target was mysterious. The university has been a center of antigovernment demonstrations but is in a government-held area, so neither side had an obvious reason to strike. And there was horror that the explosions struck as students tried to go about their studies normally, even after people who had fled the fighting in other Aleppo neighborhoods had taken up residence in a dormitory, which was hit by a blast.
Activists also reported that violence convulsed some suburbs of Damascus, the capital, where members of the insurgent Free Syrian Army were engaged in combat with government forces in the Ain Tarma and Zamalka neighborhoods. The fighting erupted after a campaign of Syrian Air Force attacks over the past few days apparently aimed at expunging insurgents from strategic areas. “The most painful scene was a chopped hand with a pen and notebook right next to it,” an education student who identified himself as Abu Tayem said over Skype. “I saw blood, flesh littered all around.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an antigovernment group based in Britain with a network of contacts in Syria, reported a death toll of 52 and dozens of injuries in the explosions at Aleppo University, while Syria’s state-run SANA news service did not specify the number of casualties but said the explosions came on the first day of exams. SANA attributed the death and destruction to at least two rockets fired by an unspecified “terrorist group.” The university’s press office appeared to have issued a statement accusing Syrian Air Force MIG fighter planes of targeting the campus in two missile attacks three minutes apart, destroying buildings and causing “massive destruction in the surrounding roads.” The statement denounced the attacks on “the university of revolution” as a “criminal act.” But it was unclear if the statement, which was posted on an opposition Facebook page, reflected the view of the leadership of the government-run university.
Competing and contradictory accounts of what happened proliferated as news of the explosions spread, none of them verifiable because of the difficulties of firsthand reporting inside Syria. The government, too, appeared to realize the impact of the event, issuing an unusual statement casting President Bashar al-Assad as coming to the school’s rescue. The Ministry of Education said in a statement that the president would oversee reconstruction “immediately to secure the functioning of the teaching process.”
The Syrian Observatory, for example, said bombs in booby-trapped cars might have been responsible. Others said the blasts might have been caused by Scud missiles, which Mr. Assad’s forces have used before on military targets. Some witnesses reported hearing the screech of warplane jet engines, but there was no corroborating video. Others reached by phone said that both sides in the conflict were to blame. Aleppo, in northern Syria, has essentially been a battleground since July. But the campus area had been largely spared until Tuesday.
According to one student, insurgent fighters just outside Aleppo who apparently were armed with a heat-seeking missile fired it at a MiG fighter, the pilot dropped a heat balloon as an evasive tactic, the missile followed the balloon, and then exploded near a military post adjacent to the university dormitories. That account, however, did not explain the second explosion. Competing and contradictory accounts proliferated in a propaganda battle to cast blame for the explosions, none of them verifiable because of the difficulties of firsthand reporting inside Syria. Some witnesses reported hearing the screech of warplane jet engines, but there was no corroborating video.
Others also reported seeing what they described as heat balloons before the explosions. Some said the university dormitories, which were housing students and civilians displaced by fighting elsewhere, were hit by one missile, and that other missiles struck the buildings that house the university’s architecture and humanities departments. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an antigovernment group based in Britain with a network of contacts in Syria, said that either government airstrikes or car bombs could have been responsible. Car bombs have been used by some rebel groups, and a rebel battalion immediately accused the Syrian Observatory on Facebook of “supporting the lies of the regime.”
The Syrian National Council, a member of the anti-Assad coalition, accused Mr. Assad’s government of responsibility. “The regime used heavy weapons to bombard Aleppo University students while taking their exams, killing dozens of them,” it said in a statement. “By committing unprecedented heinous atrocities, the regime hopes to see hatred and destruction in Syria before its demise.” Witness accounts and videos uploaded on the Internet from the campus and a nearby hospital painted a picture of utter panic as the explosions shattered an examination day with billowing smoke, fire and showers of fragmented concrete and glass. Syria’s state-run SANA news service blamed at least two rockets fired by an unspecified “terrorist group,” but the destruction appeared to be too heavy to have been caused by any rockets known to be in rebel arsenals. A piece of shrapnel photographed by a student at the scene appeared to come from high-explosive ordnance that could have been a mortar round or an aircraft weapon, either of which could also have been used in a car bomb. Some students even speculated that the blasts might have been caused by ballistic missiles, which Mr. Assad’s forces have fired on his foes.
“I was inside my car when I heard the sound of two consecutive explosions, which was preceded by the sound of a warplane,” said an antigovernment activist in Aleppo reached on his mobile telephone, who identified himself only by his first name, Tony, for security reasons. “There was a mess on the street created by the traffic. I saw smoke coming from dormitories. It was surprising to see the university being bombed.” Others reached by phone speculated that the university was hit by accident, or argued that both sides in the conflict were to blame.
An education student who identified himself as Abu Tayem in a Skype conversation said he had finished his exams at 10:30 a.m. and left campus, and that a friend called in tears a few hours later with the news: “I rushed immediately to see what happened. I saw blood, flesh littered all around; the most painful scene was a chopped hand with a pen and notebook right next to it. I saw two female students crying, they were speechless. I tried to convince them to return home; they were crying nonstop.” One student said that insurgent fighters just outside Aleppo who apparently were armed with a heat-seeking missile fired it at a MIG fighter, that the pilot dropped a heat balloon as an evasive tactic, and that the missile followed the balloon and then exploded near a military post adjacent to the university dormitories. That account, however, did not explain the second explosion.
He also described what he called “two big holes, caused by two missiles,” in what had been a campus square. “I could not see it any more, it’s vanished,” he said. The United Nations has estimated that more than 60,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising against Mr. Assad began in March 2011. Other students also reported seeing what they described as heat balloons before the explosions. Some said the dormitories were hit by one missile, and that other missiles struck the buildings that house the university’s architecture and humanities departments.
Mr. Assad appeared to further distance himself on Monday from any thought of relinquishing power via a BBC interview with his deputy foreign minister, Faisal Muqdad. Mr. Muqdad suggested that Mr. Assad would run for re-election next year when his term expires. “We are opening the way for democracy, or deeper democracy,” he said. “In a democracy you don’t tell somebody not to run.” The Syrian National Council, a member of the anti-Assad coalition, accused Mr. Assad’s government of responsibility. “The regime used heavy weapons to bombard Aleppo University students while taking their exams, killing dozens of them,” it said in a statement. “By committing unprecedented heinous atrocities, the regime hopes to see hatred and destruction in Syria before its demise.”
Groups opposed to Mr. Assad have said they will not even consider political dialogue to resolve the conflict unless Mr. Assad resigns or is removed from power first. The special peace envoy from the United Nations and the Arab League, Lakhdar Brahimi, has urged Mr. Assad to step down and said he cannot be part of any transitional government. The Syrian government has accused Mr. Brahimi of bias toward the insurgency. Witness accounts and videos uploaded to the Internet from the campus and a nearby hospital painted a picture of utter panic as the explosions shattered an examination day with billowing smoke, fire and showers of fragmented concrete and glass.
With diplomacy still deadlocked, more than 50 member states in the United Nations submitted an unusual written appeal to the Security Council on Monday to at least request an investigation by the International Criminal Court into possible war crimes and atrocities committed in Syria, by both the loyalist and the insurgent sides. “I was inside my car when I heard the sound of two consecutive explosions, which was preceded by the sound of a warplane,” said an antigovernment activist in Aleppo reached on his cellphone, who identified himself only by his first name, Tony, for security reasons. “I saw smoke coming from dormitories. It was surprising to see the university being bombed.”
But whatever chance of such a move appeared to be ended on Tuesday by Russia, the biggest foreign defender of the Syrian government, which has vetoed three Security Council proposals on Syrian intervention since the conflict began. The education student, Abu Tayem, said he had finished his exams and left campus, then rushed back when a friend called in tears a few hours later. “I saw two female students crying; they were speechless,” he said. “I tried to convince them to return home.”
“We consider this initiative ill-timed and counterproductive if we are to achieve the current priority goal — an immediate end to bloodshed in Syria,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “We are convinced that speculation about international criminal prosecution and the search for guilty parties will only serve to keep the opposing sides in hard-line positions and complicate the search for a path of political-diplomatic settlement of the Syrian conflict.” He also described “two big holes, caused by two missiles,” in what had been a campus square. “I could not see it any more, it’s vanished,” he said.

Rick Gladstone reported from New York, and Hwaida Saad from Beirut, Lebanon. Reporting was contributed by Hania Mourtada from Beirut, Ellen Barry from Moscow, and Neil MacFarquhar from the United Nations.

The United Nations has estimated that more than 60,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising against Mr. Assad began in March 2011.
Mr. Assad appeared to distance himself further this week from any thought of relinquishing power.
Faisal al-Miqdad, a deputy foreign minister, suggested Monday in a BBC interview that Mr. Assad would run for re-election next year when his term expires. “We are opening the way for democracy, or deeper democracy,” he said. “In a democracy, you don’t tell somebody not to run.”
Groups opposed to Mr. Assad have said they will not even consider political dialogue to resolve the conflict until Mr. Assad leaves power.
With diplomacy still deadlocked, more than 50 member states in the United Nations requested on Monday that the International Criminal Court investigate possible war crimes by both sides. But Russia, Syria’s strongest ally, said Tuesday that it would block the effort, arguing that it would “keep the opposing sides in hard-line positions.”

Hwaida Saad reported from Beirut and Rick Gladstone from New York. Reporting was contributed by Hania Mourtada from Beirut, Ellen Barry from Moscow, Neil MacFarquhar from the United Nations, and C.J. Chivers from Antakya, Turkey.