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Free Syrian Army fighters fire a rocket during clashes with government forces in Aleppo, Syria yesterday. Andoni Lubaki/AP

Universities in Syria shut after blast kills 87

No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts, but the government and rebels have blamed each other.

UNIVERSITIES WERE CLOSED across Syria today to mark a day of mourning called after twin blasts tore through an Aleppo campus while students were writing exams, killing at least 87 people.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights warned that the toll from yesterday’s blasts in Syria’s war-ravaged northern commercial capital could rise beyond 100, making it one of the bloodiest attacks in Syria’s 22-month conflict.

No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts, but the government and rebels have blamed each other.

Opposition activists said government jets had carried out an air strike on the campus, but a military official said ground-to-air missiles fired by rebels had fallen short.

State television said “terrorists launched two rockets” at the campus.

Government-controlled

The university lies in a government-controlled area of the battleground northern city, which has been wracked by violence since last summer when regime forces launched an offensive to halt a rebel advance.

The Local Coordination Committees, a network of grassroots activists, said the timing of the attack showed that the blasts were “part of a systematic plan to inflict as many casualties as possible in the university.

The Observatory today updated its earlier toll of 82 people dead.

“The number of people killed in twin blasts yesterday has risen to 87,” it said.

“That number is likely to rise to 100 as body parts continue to be identified,” the Britain-based monitoring group said, adding that around 150 people were wounded, some of them critically.

Immediately after the Aleppo University blast, the education minister called for a nationwide “day of mourning” and said President Bashar al-Assad ordered the “immediate rebuilding of damaged parts of the university,” state television reported.

Worst violence in several weeks

Elsewhere in Syria today, the army sent reinforcements to the town of Daraya, southwest of Damascus, as warplanes and rockets bombarded the rebel enclave, said the Observatory, describing the violence there as the worst in several weeks.

“The army’s assault is insanely violent. The shelling is continuous, it has been so intense in the past hours. There are many injured people,” said Daraya-based activist Abu Kinan.

Clashes raged in the town meanwhile, pitting rebels against advancing troops.

“Every time troops take a new position, the rebels attack them there. That is what makes the clashes so fierce and widespread,” said Abu Kinan.

Amateur video posted on the Internet by activists showed a massive tower of smoke rising above the now mostly empty town, which once boasted a population of about 200,000.

Daraya has become one of the rebel Free Syrian Army’s main strongholds in Damascus province, after previously being held up as a symbol of peaceful activism against Assad’s regime.

Assad’s brother and elite Fourth Division chief Maher al-Assad, “has given orders to take control of Daraya even if that should mean destroying whatever buildings remain in the town,” according to Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

An army official quoted by pro-regime daily Tishreen downplayed the intensity of operations against Daraya’s rebels.

“Military operations have been ongoing for two months in search of gangs,” said the official, adding that he had no information on any generalised offensive on Daraya.

More than 60,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Syria’s conflict, according to the United Nations, while the Observatory says it has documented more than 48,000 dead.

Yesterday alone, at least 207 people were killed in violence across Syria, including 137 civilians, said the Observatory.

- © AFP 2013.

Read: Rape ‘significant’ weapon of war in Syria, says report>

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    Mute B Lowe
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    Jan 16th 2013, 12:59 PM

    Absolutely shocking article. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights being used again as a definitive source. Outrageous.
    It is the ‘rebels’ who have the track record of killing mass civilians in horrific attacks from car bombs to suicide bombers. Yet, little of the terrorist attacks on civilians by the rebels getting reported in Western media. This type of an attack is more than likely from the ‘rebels’. The rebels who said they will target any Russians or Iranians in Syria,a war crime. They have also said they will attack any civilian aircraft or airports, another war crime.
    I thought the rebels were meant to have taken control of Syria at this stage. Well according to the Western corporate agenda media anyway, who have been talking about final pushes or final battle for Damascus for over a year now. The same media that describes rebel attacks as victories when they are nothing more than defeat after defeat.
    It would be nice to have an article re Syria that is truly an independent one without an imperialist agenda.

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    Mute Shuki Sadan Byrne
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    Jan 16th 2013, 2:53 PM

    Imperialist agenda? Can you elaborate a bit on that bit?

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    Mute Declan Noonan
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    Jan 16th 2013, 3:17 PM

    B Lowe, did you read the article which says that both sides are blaming each other and no one knows exactly who is to blame. You are critical of a “one man operation” reporting on this from Britain but you yourself are a “one man operation” typing away on your keyboard ad nauseum from who knows where?

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    Mute mattoid
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    Jan 16th 2013, 3:31 PM

    @BLowe
    “This type of attack is more than likely from the rebels”

    Don’t you think you should reserve judgment until some evidence emerges??

    You wrongly blamed the rebels for the Houla massacre when both sides were blaming each other, but went very quiet when the hard evidence came out that it was in fact the Assad regime which perpetrated this massacre of civilians (yes, a war crime, as you like to point out about various other acts).

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    Mute mattoid
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    Jan 16th 2013, 3:34 PM

    I don’t know why your agenda is so dear to you, but you clearly have one if you refuse to keep an open mind about stories like this.

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    Mute B Lowe
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    Jan 16th 2013, 4:09 PM

    The Houla massacre was not carried out by the official Syrian security forces.

    I am not blindingly pro the Syrian government on everything.

    However, when all we hear on mainly Western news sources is one sided articles in favour of the mainly foreign Islamic jihadists and mercenaries masquerading as ‘rebels’ someone needs to offer a counterpoint.

    The media is going gun ho against the Al Qaeda linked rebels in France describing their wish to impose Sharia law and how the Marian government has asked for assistance. The Syrian government is fighting mainly foreign Al Qaeda linked rebels who are imposing Sharia laws on the very few areas of control they have. The Malian government is a military dictatorship. Why is it not being referred to as so and why the double standards related Syria in the media.

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    Mute B Lowe
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    Jan 16th 2013, 4:15 PM

    Re Shuki.
    The imperialist agenda. We, many believe, for example that the US opposes tyranny and seeks to bring democracy to countries. This is a testament to the power of propaganda. The most repressive country in the Middle East is Saudi Arabia yet is the closest ally in the region for the US. The US also directly supplies Saudi Arabia with arms, which Saudi Arabia uses to impose its tyranny.
    So, you see many would say the US is an imperialist country as it pursues its own national interests at everyone else’s expense. The US does this currently by hijacking terms such as democracy and freedom and using them as a means to impose its will worldwide.

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    Mute mattoid
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    Jan 16th 2013, 6:29 PM

    BLowe
    The Houla massacre was carried out by pro-Assad militias with the full knowledge of Syrian state forces, who looked on as the massacre unfolded.

    Yes, the fledgeling Mali government came about as the result of a coup (and hopefully democracy will follow) but the regime you continually defend is a forty year dictatorship!

    You quite rightly point out the double standards of some sections of the western media, but your own double standards know no bounds!

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    Mute mattoid
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    Jan 16th 2013, 7:11 PM

    Re: Houla
    In the full knowledge of what had actually happened at Houla the regime then went on a sustained media campaign to blame the massacre on opposition forces.

    This story was also run by Russia Today, and people like you fully bought into it without question.

    Yet you accuse western media of propaganda?? As I have said before, propaganda is a feature of all sides in any war, but you seem completely incapable of understanding that the Syrian regime and their allies use propaganda extensively, and just because you heard something on RT doesn’t make it true!

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    Mute Luigi Macaroni
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    Jan 16th 2013, 8:11 PM

    Ah shure the students were probably “rebels” and the professors CIA or Mossad huh B. Wonder about the agenda of the Journal sometimes (why was this only reported on today like)

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    Mute SteoG
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    Jan 16th 2013, 8:12 PM

    B Lowe
    Your naive black and white view of the big bad world is still the same. Running out of steam and fresh anti Western advertising B, you are copying and pasting your old posts. You are consistent though, with your unbalanced one sided view, constantly showing a deep misunderstanding of the nature of a vicious civil conflict in Syria. Applying the same unworkable labels to the situation in Mali just does not cut ice. Your analysis of both conflicts is deeply flawed, and will remain so until you learn to assess your sources critically and look for balance.
    Very poor explanation of Imperialism for Shuki, the age of empires is over my friend, the word is used now in an emotive way that has nothing to do with Imperialism. The analysis you have made of US foreign policy is very poor and naive and shows a complete lack of knowledge of International Relations.

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    Mute Declan Noonan
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    Jan 16th 2013, 8:37 PM

    B Lowe, I thought Israel was Americas closest ally in the middle east? Besides Saudi Arabia doesn’t need American military hardware to keep its people oppressed, you can do that with batons, dogs, water cannons, laws, the vice police, swords and it’s very own oppressive culture.

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    Mute Declan Noonan
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    Jan 16th 2013, 8:40 PM

    B Lowe, it’s you who has a black and white view of the world!

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    Mute Jamie Mccormack
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    Jan 16th 2013, 11:51 PM

    They interviewed a student on the news tonight and asked him who he thought was responsible for the attack. He replied “terrorists”, and the guy asked him “you don’t think the govt was involved in this?” and the student said “no absolutely not”.. in the same piece they talked to some fella from the govt who said they were convinced it was al-qaida. I’m not sticking up for the assad regime, just saying thats there is more to these “rebels” than we being told..

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