Blasts at Aleppo University Cause Casualties http://nyti.ms/Xb7VWG [NYTimes]
12:28 PM - 15 Jan 13 · Details
Blasts at Syrian University Cause Casualties
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 15, 2013 at 10:14 AM ET
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DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Two explosions struck the main university in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Tuesday, causing an unknown number of casualties, state media and anti-government activists said.
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There were conflicting reports as to what caused the blast at Aleppo University, which was in session Tuesday.
State TV said two rockets hit the university, killing students and people who had fled fighting elsewhere in recent months and taken refuge on the campus grounds. It did not say how many people were killed, and blamed rebels for the attack.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of activists around the country, offered a slightly different account. It said 15 people were killed and "tens" wounded in two explosions near the university's dorms, but said it was not clear whether the blasts were the result of shells or bombs.
Aleppo, a former commercial hub, has been a major front in the country's civil war since July. Since then, the fight in the Syria's largest city has settled into a bloody stalemate between regime troops and rebels, with ferocious street battles, sniper fire and frequent exchanges of rocket and mortar rounds.
The city, along with the capital, Damascus, also has been hit by a wave of explosions in recent that have killed scores of people. Many of the bombings, which have largely targeted government buildings, have been claimed by Islamic extremists fighting on the rebel side.
Violence raged in other parts of Syria as well on Tuesday, with clashes in the suburbs of Damascus, and government air raids and shelling in other regions that killed dozens of people, activists said.
The violence came a day after Syria's deputy foreign minister said President Bashar Assad will not step down before scheduled presidential elections in mid-2014. Faisal Mekdad said Assad will run again for the post next year — a declaration which lowers already diminished expectations that a political settlement can be reached.
Since Syria's crisis began in March 2011, the opposition has said it will not accept anything less than Assad's departure.
Mekdad's comments appear to contradict a plan proposed by international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. Since starting his job in the summer, Brahimi has sought to advance an international plan that calls for an open-ended cease-fire between rebels and government troops and the formation of a transitional government to run the country until elections can be held.
