Throughout most of Syria there was relative calm today, but a major Syrian military raid took place at Aleppo University today, in Syria’s largest city. The raid left four students killed and some 200 arrested.
Aleppo has mostly been quiet during the course of the protests and the subsequent civil war, but Aleppo University has had a considerable number of small protests, and large protests continued throughout today in response to the raids.
Student protesters were presenting today as a turning point in their protests, demanding the ouster of the Assad regime. Still, Aleppo’s protests were far short of the demonstrations seen elsewhere in the nation over the past year.
A ceasefire has been in effect for three weeks, and while violence has continued daily, it is still down considerably from where it was before the ceasefire was negotiated. UN monitors continue to come into the country, in anticipation of negotiating reforms and an eventual settlement with rebel fighters.
