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Syrian Rebels Fight to Hold Northern City Syria’s Education System ‘Reeling,’ Unicef Says
(about 11 hours later)
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Rebel fighters in Syria said on Tuesday that they were still battling for complete control of the north-central city of Raqqa after seizing much of it a day earlier and claiming to have captured two of the most senior government officials seized in the almost two-year-old conflict. BEIRUT, Lebanon — The United Nations depicted the collapse of Syria’s education system in a report released on Tuesday, saying that thousands of schools have been damaged or converted into shelters for civilians displaced by civil war and that many children have not attended class since the conflict began two years ago.
Government forces were also reported to have launched airstrikes on Tuesday to try to blunt the rebel thrust into the city. The report, by Unicef, the United Nations Children’s Fund, also said many parents were now reluctant to send their children to school, fearing for their safety, even if their school is open. In the contested northern city of Aleppo, where loyalists and insurgents have been battling since last summer, the attendance rate has dropped as low as 6 percent, the report said.
It was unclear Tuesday whether the insurgents could retain control of Raqqa. Other areas where fighting has been severe, notably Idlib in the north and Dara’a in the south, where the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad first began, are among the worst affected. “As a result, schoolchildren, are often failing to turn up for class, sometimes attending only twice a week,” Unicef said.
But if they could, it would be the first provincial capital completely taken over by the armed resistance. For the government, the loss of Raqqa would diminish the prospects that President Bashar al-Assad’s military, now fighting on a number of fronts, could retake large areas of northern and eastern Syria. At least a fifth of the country’s schools have suffered direct damage, the report said, and in others where classes are still held, overcrowding has pushed class sizes to 100 students. In some areas, more than half of teachers do not report for work, it said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group based in Britain, said on Tuesday that parts of Raqqa — a strategic city of some 500,000 people on the Euphrates River, 50 miles south of the border with Turkey — were “still under regime control.” The report provided a glimpse into an often overlooked deprivation confronting the civilian population, where the more basic problems of security, homelessness, hunger and illness have reached crisis levels in many places. The United Nations has estimated that at least 70,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in March 2011, nearly a million Syrians have fled to neighboring countries, more than two million people are internally displaced and more than four million are in urgent need of assistance.
“Fierce clashes are still raging between regime forces and rebels near ammunition depots in the north of Raqqa,” the Observatory said. The Unicef assessment was conducted in December. Since then, fighting has progressively worsened, suggesting the picture could be even grimmer.
Activists said fighting was still raging around an intelligence building in the city which the Observatory said had been attacked in two government airstrikes after rebel forces overran it on Monday. By the opposition account, 17 rebels were killed and “dozens” of government soldiers were captured. In the surrounding province of Raqqa, other activists said, rebel units fired mortars at a government air base at Tabaqa. “The education system in Syria is reeling from the impact of violence,” said Youssouf Abdel-Jelil, the Unicef representative in Syria. “Syria once prided itself on the quality of its schools. Now it’s seeing the gains it made over the years rapidly reversed.”
The claimed capture of Raqqa came after days of heavy clashes. Antigovernment activists reached by phone in Syria were not surprised.
Rebel videos uploaded on the Internet showed activists smashing a statue of President Assad’s father, Hafez, in the central square to celebrate their victory. “Even in those schools that are still open, attendance is very irregular,” said Omar Abu Layla, an activist in the eastern city of Deir al-Zour, another combat hotspot. “Parents worry about sending their kids to school because warplanes usually target schools where the displaced have sought refuge.”
The observatory quoted a lawyer in Raqqa as saying that the rebels had captured the provincial governor, Hasan Jalali, and the secretary general of the Raqqa branch of Mr. Assad’s ruling Baath Party, Suleiman al-Suleiman. Rebel video posted on the Internet purported to show the two men in captivity, but it was not possible from the brief and indistinct clip to verify their identities. Mr. Abu Layla said more than 75 percent of schools in the country wer now closed because of what he described as constant shelling and other threats. “We try to compensate by giving lessons in mosques or schools that haven’t been hit, but it doesn’t make a big difference,” he said.
If confirmed, the men would be among the highest-ranking officials detained by insurgents. Activists said on Tuesday that the captives were being questioned by fighters from the jihadist Al Nusra Front, a Sunni insurgent force in Syria that has become known for its audacious attacks on government targets, and which American officials have blacklisted as a terrorist organization. Others said they have sought to take education into their own hands, especially in areas where schools are unsafe. In Idlib Province, for example, a group of activists has started a radio station called “Colors FM,” featuring a daily 90-minute broadcast aimed at children between the ages of 4 and 10 who have been unable to attend classes.
Earlier Monday, anti-Assad activists reported heavy fighting in Homs between rebels and government forces backed by tanks and warplanes. Ahmad Kadour, a member of the group, said the curriculum includes English, math and science. “It’s just a beginning but we will make some progress with time,” he said. “In the next stage, we are planning to buy small radios to distribute to kids so they can listen to our show.”
The clashes in Homs, a central Syrian city that had been quiet recently, seemed to shift attention from the northern city of Aleppo, where fighting had swirled for days around the Khan al-Asal police academy. Both sides in the civil war, which has claimed an estimated 70,000 lives, acknowledged relatively high death tolls there. The main focus of fighting in Syria on Tuesday appeared to revolve around the struggle for control of the north-central city of Raqqa. Rebel fighters claimed to have occupied most of the city on Monday and captured two senior government officials there. But government forces were reported to have launched airstrikes on Tuesday in attempts to expel the rebels.

Hania Mourtada reported from Beirut, Lebanon, and Alan Cowell from London.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group based in Britain, said on Tuesday that parts of Raqqa — a provincial capital and strategic city of about 500,000 people on the Euphrates River, 50 miles south of the border with Turkey — were “still under regime control.”

Hania Mourtada reported from Beirut, Lebanon, and Rick Gladstone from New York. Alan Cowell contributed reporting from London.