Mortar fire hammered a college in Syria 's capital , the government and rebels said , killing at least 10 people . Shells hit the Architecture College at the University of Damascus . State media earlier said 15 people were killed but eventually changed the toll to 10 dead in mortar fire by `` terrorists '' -- the name the government uses to describe anti-government groups . The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said a shell struck the cafeteria of the architectural engineering faculty . Mohammad Amer al-Mardini , the university rector , is quoted by SANA as saying that along with the 10 dead , 29 were wounded . `` No one , in any position in the world , can imagine there is an act more criminal than this one , '' al-Mardini is quoted as saying . `` If the aim behind this criminal act was to close the University of Damascus , with its history and deep-rootedness , then we stress that it wo n't shut down in defiance of the enemies . '' The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 10 civilians were killed by mortar shells at the architecture college and that the number of dead was likely to rise . It said several shells fell inside the campus . The opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said 12 people died in the incident . They were among at least 107 killed in warfare across the nation Thursday , the group said . The crisis in Syria began two years ago when the government of Bashar al-Assad cracked down on peaceful protesters . That clampdown morphed into a full-blown civil war . More than 70,000 people are believed to have been killed , the United Nations estimates . The warfare has spawned a vast humanitarian and displacement crisis . Time for a no-fly zone ? International diplomacy has failed to forge peace as the warring rages daily . Syrian rebels have been obtaining weapons from entities outside the country and have seized arms from the well-stocked military . But Western nations have been reluctant to arm factions opposing the Assad government . One official who helped a failed effort to bring about a cease-fire in Syria says it 's time for a bit of a change . Norwegian Maj. Gen. Robert Mood , former head of the U.N. monitoring team in Syria , told the BBC on Wednesday that it 's time for the world to consider imposing a no-fly zone , an area over which aircraft are not allowed to fly . Al-Assad 's government regularly has used its aircraft to attack rebel positions . `` To level the playing field now in the military terms would be to consider no-fly zones , to consider whether the Patriots in Turkey could have a role also in taking on some responsibility for the northern part of Syria , '' he said . Patriots , which are surface-to-air missiles , have been deployed to Turkey to protect the country . The U.N. Security Council imposed a no-fly zone in Libya in 2011 to halt the violence by the Moammar Gadhafi government . That effort helped rebels there topple Gadhafi . No-fly zones were also imposed by Western nations in Iraq during the rule of Saddam Hussein . A no-fly zone would help an interim government take hold in territory that rebels have seized from the Syrian military . The opposition has chosen Ghassan Hitto , a Syrian-American , to be the prime minister of that government . Mood said a no-fly zone should be accompanied by planning for a transition . `` The next thing to argue is incredibly important . It is useless to discuss or to consider a no-fly zone unless you are thinking beyond it , unless you are already then starting to plan . '' If the government should quickly collapse , he asks , `` what next then ? '' He also says the world must look at how international diplomacy can be used to `` achieve results with military means that strengthen the moderates inside Syria . '' The world must also think about reconstruction after the war is ended and getting humanitarian aid `` to the women and children and the suffering Syrian population . ''
The death toll now stands at 10 , the government and an opposition group say . More than 100 killed in clashes across Syria on Thursday , the government says . Many people are injured in the shelling . The former head of U.N. mission in Syria declared a no - fly zone .