Four Civilians Killed in Shelling of Aleppo University Dormitories Amid Escalating Fighting

Four civilians, including two students, were killed today in the Syrian city of Aleppo as insurgent forces shelled university student dormitories, the state news agency SANA reported. The attack occurred as intense fighting continues to rage around the northern city.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), more than 240 people, the majority of whom are combatants, have died in the clashes since rebel groups launched a large-scale offensive on government-held areas earlier this week.

On Wednesday, the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), along with allied Turkish-backed factions, initiated an assault on government-controlled territories in the northwest, sparking the fiercest clashes in the region since 2020, SOHR reported.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the SOHR, stated that fighting had reached within two kilometers (1.2 miles) of Aleppo’s city center, with artillery fire hitting student housing, resulting in the civilian casualties. According to state media, the shelling on the university dormitories killed four people, including two students.

As of today, the SOHR reports that the death toll among combatants in the ongoing operation in the Idlib and Aleppo regions has risen to 218 since Wednesday, with an additional 24 civilians confirmed dead.

HTS, which is designated as a terrorist organization by both the United States and Turkey, has long been a target of both Syrian government forces and Russian military operations. Formerly known as the Nusra Front, the group is the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda but has since distanced itself from the extremist organization and undergone several rebranding efforts.

The ongoing escalation in northwest Syria underscores the continued volatility of the region as rebel forces push against Syrian government positions, particularly in areas where Russian-backed government forces are engaged in intense counteroffensives.