Powerful suicide boom-mobiles that killed about two dozen people in Idlib marked another escalation in the fight for control of northern Syria, a key battlefield in the country's civil war. The day before, massive blasts heavily damaged the main university in the commercial hub of Aleppo, killing 87 people and wounding scores of others.
The nearly simultaneous bombings in Idlib Wednesday bore the trademarks of Islamic bad boys, the most organized rebel fighters trying to topple
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
The Scourge of Hama...
's government. More than 60,000 people have been killed in the 22-month conflict, according to the United Nations
...what started out as a a diplomatic initiative, now trying to edge its way into legislative, judicial, and executive areas...
Assad's warplanes struck rebel targets in both northern cities, still reeling from the deadly kabooms. The Syrian army vowed to crush the armed opposition to "cleanse the homeland of their dirt."
The army said in a statement that its troops killed and maimed dozens of "terrorist mercenaries" in Aleppo following the attacks on the university where students were taking mid-year exams. Assad's regime regularly refers to rebels as "terrorists."