7 dead as Syrian troops storm Aleppo University

7 dead as Syrian troops storm Aleppo University

Anti-regime graffiti sprayed on the walls of Aleppo University is shown in this photo from Monday.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: At least 7 are killed at Aleppo University dorms
• NEW: The number of monitors increases to 50, state media says
• NEW: The regime is shifting its focus to students, the LCC says
• NEW: Students in Beirut hold a protest in support of the Aleppo students

(CNN) -- Syrian security forces unleashed a deadly push on a prominent university to clamp down on student dissent Thursday, the opposition said.

Violence flared at Aleppo University, a sprawling institution in the country's largest city. It is one of several schools across the country where demonstrators have turned out lately to protest government policies.

At least seven people died in the Aleppo dorms, the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said. They were among the 22 Syrians slain across the country by security forces.

Another opposition group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said at least 28 people were wounded and about 200 students were arrested.

Soldiers also fired at the hospital where the wounded were taken, leading to more casualties, said Mohammad Hareitan, 25, a student at the university. It was unclear how many more people were wounded in that attack.

The campus website said the school will be closed until final exams start on May 13 "due to the current situation."

The unrest flew in the face of U.N. efforts to impose a cease-fire in Syria and organize an observation force to monitor adherence by the regime and the opposition.

Amateur videos have surfaced on the web showing demonstrators and burned campus rooms at Aleppo University. Student demonstrators turned out at Deir Ezzor University, the Daraa branch of Damascus University, and other towns.

Rafif Jouejati, LCC spokeswoman, said the ferment is a sign that the regime is turning its focus on campus dissenters.

"They have pretty well hammered farmers and villagers. They have targeted many of the professionals," she said of the regime. "They are just shifting their attention."

Jouejati said students have been staging protests since the uprising began in March 2011 but now "more and more university students are coming out as the barrier of fear is eliminated.

The regime, she said, usually reacted to demonstrations by surrounding a campus, arresting a few students and beating them up, she said. Now, they are "stepping up the brutality" by firing tear gas and live ammunition. In one instance at Aleppo, one person died after security tossed him from a window, Jouejati said.

"This has been building up," Jouejati said. "For many of these students, it is impossible to be educated and know what's happening in your country and not stand up and speak."

She said the turnouts are "cross-discipline."

"It's not just the literature people. It's the engineering folks. It's the laws students. They are coming out and they are demanding freedom."

She said security is targeting anything that can be interpreted as dissent, such as students sitting silently on the ground. A saying "stop the killing" doesn't assign blame but that expression is being targeted, she said.

Outrage over Aleppo University emerged in Lebanon.

The Syrian Revolution 2011 page on Facebook is reporting that the students at the American University of Beirut were holding a demonstration in solidarity with the students there.

"I stand with the students at the University of Aleppo and its martyrs," a protest flier said.

CNN cannot independently verify reports of violence and deaths within Syria because the government has restricted access by most of the international media.

The reported attacks come despite the presence of the U.N. observers, who have reported cases of cease-fire violations from the government and the opposition.

The cease-fire went into effect April 12 and is part of a six-point peace plan negotiated by international envoy Kofi Annan.

Annan's plan includes allowing humanitarian groups access to the population, releasing detainees, starting a political dialogue, and withdrawal of troops from city centers, a mandate the government has not met, according to the United Nations.

The U.N. observer mission is tasked to monitor the cease-fire and the peace plan.

Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, head of the mission, said the number of observers has reached 50 and they are "deployed in the provinces of Damascus, Homs, Aleppo, Hama, Idleb and Daraa," the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said. The number is expected to increase to 300 at the end of the month.

A U.N. official said this week said both sides have violated the cease-fire.

Though the United States seeks an end to violence by both sides, most of the attacks have been by the government forces, said Mark Toner, the State Department spokesman.

"So far, the Syrian regime has taken, really, almost no steps toward fulfilling the core commitments of the Annan proposal," he said.

Syria's protests started peacefully in March last year, but a government crackdown spawned violence that has left thousands dead and prompted some military defectors to take up arms against the regime forces. The government has consistently blamed the violence on "armed terrorists."

The United Nations estimates that at least 9,000 people have died in the conflict while opposition groups put the death toll at more than 11,000.

President Bashar al-Assad's family has ruled Syria for 42 years.

CNN's Amir Ahmed and Tracy Doueiry contributed to this report.

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