The Red Cross said yesterday it was in talks with the Syrian authorities and rebels to halt the violence so it can deliver aid amid calls to allow women and children out of the besieged city of Homs.
We want women and children to be allowed to leave
President Bashar al-Assad, meanwhile, again accused foreigners of funding and arming “terrorist groups” with the aim of destabilising his unrest-hit country, as Iranian warships docked at the port of tartus in a show of force.
“The International Committee of the Red Cross is exploring several possibilities for delivering urgently needed humanitarian aid,” said ICRC spokesman Bijan Farnoudi.
“These include the cessation of fighting in the most affected areas to facilitate swift Syrian Arab Red Crescent and ICRC access to the people in need.”
China’s influential People’s Daily warned that any Western support for the rebels would trigger a “large-scale civil war”.
But despite a weekend appeal by a visiting Chinese envoy for all sides to stop the violence, monitors said regime forces targeted the central city of Homs for a 17th straight day.
Attacks on Homs killed nine out of the 15 people killed across Syria yesterday, according to reports by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and state media.
Shelling of Baba Amr, the main rebel stronghold in Homs, killed five civilians, while another four died when rockets hit Al-Malaab district, said the Britain-based Observatory.
The official Sana news agency said a lieutenant colonel and a sergeant were killed in a clash between border guards and an “armed terrorist group” in Athraya, central Hama province.
Activists and state media reported at least 14 people were killed on Sunday, adding to the more than 6,000 people activists say have died in the Assad regime’s 11-month crackdown on dissent.
“Infantry troops arrived yesterday (Sunday) in Homs,” Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory, said.
A Homs-based activist voiced fears of an imminent attack on Baba Amr, speaking of “unprecedented military reinforcements coming from Damascus.”
“News has been leaked to us from army officers about a bloody attack that will burn everything in Baba Amr,” Hadi Abdullah of the General Commission of the Syrian Revolution said on Sunday.
“We were expecting the attack two nights ago, but it could have been just delayed because of the snowstorm,” he said.
A day after saying Baba Amr was being hit by up to five rockets a minute, Mr Abdullah yesterday demanded safe passage to allow women and children to leave the district.
“We want women and children to be allowed to leave,” he told AFP, adding that “people were suffering from the weather while their conditions are miserable”.
Abdel Rahman was cautious about the timing of the expected assault on Homs.
“We do not know when the attack might happen,” he said.