Explosions kill 83 at Syrian university as exams begin

A handout picture released by the Syrian Observatory Human Rights allegedly shows the scene of an explosion outside Aleppo University, between the university dormitories and the architecture faculty, Jan. 15, 2013. 82 people were killed and 160 others injured when a big blast rocked a university in Syria's northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday. (Xinhua)

(Reuters) - Two explosions tore through one of Syria's biggest universities on the first day of student exams on Tuesday, killing 83 people and wounding dozens, a monitoring group said.

Bloodshed has disrupted civilian life across Syria since a violent government crackdown in early 2011 on peaceful demonstrations for democratic reform turned the unrest into an armed insurgency bent on overthrowing President Bashar al-Assad.

More than 50 countries asked the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday to refer the crisis to the International Criminal Court, which prosecutes people for genocide and war crimes. But Russia - Assad's long-standing ally and arms supplier - blocked the initiative, calling it "ill-timed and counterproductive.

Each side in the 22-month-old conflict blamed the other for Tuesday's blasts at the University of Aleppo, located in a government-held area of Syria's most populous city.

Some activists in Aleppo said a government attack caused the explosions, while state television accused "terrorists" - a term they often use to describe the rebels - of firing two rockets at the school. A rebel fighter said the blasts appeared to have been caused by "ground-to-ground" missiles.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said 83 people were killed and dozens wounded, but it could not identify the source of the blasts.

"Dozens are in critical condition," the Observatory said in a statement, citing doctors and students.

State television showed a body lying on the street and several cars burning. One of the university buildings was damaged.

Video footage showed students carrying books out of the university after one of the explosions, walking quickly away from rising smoke. The camera then shakes to the sound of another explosion and people begin to run.

"A cowardly terrorist act targeted the students of Aleppo University as they sat for their mid-term examinations," Syria's United Nations ambassador, Bashar Ja'afari, told the U.N. Security Council in New York. He said 82 students had died and 162 more were wounded.

If confirmed, the government's report of a rocket attack would suggest rebels in the area had been able to obtain and deploy more powerful weapons than previously used.

The nearest rebel-controlled area, Bustan al-Qasr, is more than a mile away from the university.

Activists rejected the suggestion that insurgents were behind the attack, however, and instead blamed the government.

"The warplanes of this criminal regime do not respect a mosque, a church or a university," said a student who gave his name as Abu Tayem.

GRINDING TOWARD STALEMATE

The rebels have been trying to take Aleppo - once a thriving commercial hub - since the summer, but have been unable to uproot Assad's better-armed and more organised forces.

International efforts to find a political solution to Syria's civil war have similarly resulted in stalemate, even as the conflict's death toll surged above 60,000.

The crisis has driven hundreds of thousands of people to flee the country, many to neighbouring Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, where a fire at a camp in the country's southeast killed a pregnant Syrian woman and her three children on Tuesday.

Inside Syria, neither the military nor the insurgents have been able to sustain clear momentum.

The rebels remain poorly equipped and disorganised compared with Assad's forces, despite winning support from some regional powers like Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

The government also benefits from superior air power, used to pummel rebel-held areas around Damascus and elsewhere.

Rebel efforts to assault the capital also appear to have ground toward a stalemate. A witness in a rebel-controlled district of Damascus said on Tuesday the front line between the two sides was quiet.

The streets were still full of civilians, the witness said, despite the sound of shells hitting nearby buildings. He said people were walking around, buying sweets and sandwiches.

from REUTERS
By Mariam Karouny
BEIRUT | Wed Jan 16, 2013 2:07am GMT
(Additional reporting by Oliver Holmes in Beirut and Steve Gutterman in Moscow; Writing by Alexander Dziadosz; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Al Nusrah Front claims suicide attack at hospital, joint operation with Chechen fighters

The Al Nusrah Front shows the suicide car bomb used to attack
the French hospital in Aleppo. Images from the SITE Intelligence Group

By Bill Roggio - November 23, 2012 - LWJ

The Al Nusrah Front shows the suicide car bomb used to attack the French hospital in Aleppo. Images from the SITE Intelligence Group.

The Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, an al Qaeda-linked jihadist group that is fighting Bashir al Assad's regime in Syria, has claimed credit for yet another suicide attack as well as another joint operation with Chechen fighters.

Al Nusrah claimed the attacks in a series of three statements released on jihadist websites on Nov. 21. The statements were translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

The suicide attack took place at a hospital in the contested city of Aleppo. Al Nusrah said the "French hospital" was being used as "the headquarters of the army and the tyrant's [thugs]." The terror group did not provide a date for the attack.

The suicide attack was executed by "the knight Abu 'Aun al Shamali," who used a car bomb "laden with 2 tons of explosives." The statement was accompanied by pictures of the car bomb as well as the explosion at the hospital. Al Nusrah then detonated a car bomb parked outside the hospital and launched "an armed attack by a group of mujahideen on what remained of the headquarters."

Al Nusrah has been the most active jihadist group in Syria. It has claimed credit for 36 of the 44 reported suicide bombings in Syria that the The Long War Journal has tallied since December 2011 [see list below]. Since the end of August, Al Nusrah has claimed credit for launching 18 suicide attacks.


Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/11/al_nusrah_front_clai_8.php#ixzz2D8j7xhm4

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Al Nusrah Front claims 2 suicide, 2 car bombings in Aleppo

By Bill Roggio - October 3, 2012 - LWJ

The Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, an al Qaeda-linked jihadist group that is fighting Bashir al Assad's regime in Syria, has claimed credit for four bombings in Aleppo today, including two suicide attacks, that killed more than 50 people. The terror group has now claimed credit for 26 of the 33 suicide attacks that have taken place in Syria since December 2011.

The terror group released a statement today on jihadist Internet forums that claimed credit for the four deadly attacks. The statement was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

Al Nusrah said it hit four targets, including two hotels, an "Officers' Club building," and a "Municipal Palace." The targets were selected for their military value, according to Al Nusrah. The Officers' Club was described as "one of the most important and biggest centers" for the Syrian military and the paramilitary shabiha. A "tourist hotel" right next to the Officers' Club was being used "as a command headquarters for military operations inside the city of Aleppo" and is located in a "security zone." The Municipal Palace was "turned it into a military barracks" and was used as a sniper nest for regime marksmen. And the Al-Amir Hotel was used by the military as "as a sleeper headquarters for its elements" as well as a a sniper nest.

Al Nusrah said that the first attack hit the Officer's Club at 7:45 a.m. and was executed by a suicide bomber known as Abu Hamza al Shami.

The second attack, which took place two minutes later, targeted the tourist hotel next to the Officer's Club and was also carried out by a suicide bomber, who was known as Abu Suleiman al Shami. The blast was followed up by a suicide assault. Al Nusrah sent in a three-man team "camouflaged in military uniforms" to battle with the surviving Syrian forces. The group identified the members of the suicide assault team as Abu Anas al Shami, Abu Hafs al Shami, and Abu Dujana al Shami.

The third attack, which occurred at 8:05 a.m., consisted of a remotely detonated car bomb that hit the entrance of the Municipal Palace. Twenty-five minutes later, Al Nusrah detonated an explosives-laden car that was parked outside Al-Amir Hotel.

The Syrian Arab News Agency, or SANA, a news organ of the Syrian Ministry of Information, confirmed that four blasts took place, and claimed that 34 people were killed and 114 were wounded. Other reports indicate that more than 50 people were killed in the attacks. SANA claimed that three of the four blasts were carried out by suicide bombers, and their timeline of the attack roughly matches that of the Al Nusrah account.

SANA released photographs of the aftermath of the attacks which detail the devastation. The facades of buildings are shorn off, a massive crater is seen at the site of one of the blasts, rubble is strewn through the streets. The bodies of the three members of the suicide assault team are also shown.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/10/al_nusrah_front_clai_6.php#ixzz28LNxLwlp

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