Syria crisis: Homs awaits food and medicine deliveries
"Food and water is so short inside... Look at me I am just bones"
The UN and aid agencies are hoping to deliver food and medicine to civilians trapped in the Syrian city of Homs.
The aid convoys are due to enter on Saturday on the second
day of a three-day ceasefire in Homs between government forces and
rebels.
On Friday more than 80 people were evacuated from rebel-held areas which have been under siege for 18 months.
Many of the evacuees looked frail and exhausted - some said they had not eaten bread for five months.
Large areas of Homs - Syria's third largest city dubbed "the
capital of the revolution" against President Bashar al-Assad - have been
reduced to rubble by fighting between rebels and government forces.
Many neighbourhoods lie in ruins and activists say people
have survived on little more than olives for weeks. Up to 3,000
civilians are thought to be trapped in the city.
The situation in besieged districts of the city since June 2012 was discussed during peace talks in Geneva a week ago.
Another round of talks is scheduled to begin on 10 February and the Syrian government has confirmed it will attend.
'A milestone'
The UN's humanitarian co-ordinator in Syria, Yacoub El Hillo,
said UN teams "have pre-positioned food, medical and other basic
supplies for immediate delivery as soon as the first group of civilians
are out and we hope to send this aid on Saturday morning".
Large areas of Homs have been reduced to rubble with food and medicine in perilously short supply
One of the main priorities is to get food to people who in some cases have not eaten bread for months
Most of those evacuated on Friday were elderly
He said that achieving the evacuation of civilians and the
delivery of food was a "milestone" for which all parties should be
commended.
The UN said 83 civilians were evacuated on Friday, after the
government and rebel fighters agreed to observe a "humanitarian pause"
in fighting.
In New York, UN spokesman Farhan Haq said that while there
were isolated reports of gunfire, the operation had gone smoothly and
the hope now was that more civilians would be evacuated and more aid
delivered over the next few days.
A temporary truce allowed buses to go in to the besieged area of the Old City
People who left said many were left behind who needed help
"The people who were able to leave were women, children and the elderly," Mr Haq said.
"They were then delivered to the places of their choice escorted by UN and Syrian Red Crescent staff."
Red Crescent volunteers were seen helping a frail-looking old
men wrapped in blankets on to a bus, while a woman on a stretcher
awaited her turn.
BBC Arabic's Assaf Abboud in Homs says the evacuated people were given meals and drinks and were taken for medical checks.
They told journalists that there were more people trapped in the city who wanted to leave.
An amateur video filmed by activists showed one man smiling as he embraced his son, their first reunion for more than 18 months.
Daily bombardments
The evacuations are expected to resume on Sunday, local cleric Abdul Hareth al-Khalidi told the AFP news agency.
Many families in Homs have lost everything in the fighting
Homs has been a key battleground in the uprising against President Assad.
The army launched a series of big attacks to recapture rebel
areas in the Old City in the beginning of 2012, with almost daily
bombardments killing thousands.
President Assad's forces enforced a blockade in June 2012
after recapturing most of the city, driving the rebels into a small
enclave in the city's centre.
Homs governor Talal Barazi described the atmosphere as
"positive" ahead of the planned evacuation, which had run slightly
behind schedule because of logistical hitches.
The Syrian foreign ministry said that under the deal -
reached between the governor of Homs and the UN resident co-ordinator in
Syria - "innocent civilians" would be allowed out of besieged areas.
"We are very happy that finally we found the possibility to
bring out these people and to provide those who are needy inside Old
Homs with humanitarian aid they deserve," Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal
Mekdad said on Friday.
"The only precondition is that this aid and the help should not go to terrorists or armed groups."
The UN says more than 100,000 people have died since the uprising began.
BBC
Posted by Editor
on 10:25.
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