An activist in the Syrian city of Homs has said the Free Syrian Army has left the embattled district of Baba Amr
The Red Cross is due to enter the Baba Amr district of the Syrian city of Homs on Friday to deliver food and medical supplies after a month-long siege.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is to enter the area with the Syrian Red Crescent, and is also planning to evacuate the wounded.
The area has suffered heavy bombardment by government forces in recent weeks.
The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) said on Thursday it was leaving the district in a “tactical withdrawal”.
The FSA said 4,000 civilians had refused to leave their homes and it was withdrawing to save them from an all-out assault.
Of the 100,000 people who normally live in Baba Amr, only a few thousand remain.
‘No obstacle’
It has been snowing heavily in Homs, worsening conditions for civilians.
Many of those still in Baba Amr are without power and running low on basic supplies.
The ICRC said it feared there could be many people seriously wounded.
But Sean Maguire, a spokesman for the ICRC, told the BBC: “If the fighting has truly died down, in theory there should be no obstacle to us going in there and staying there on a day-to-day basis.
“Our colleagues from the Syrian Red Crescent have been distributing food and assistance in other areas of Homs on a daily basis, and we hope to be able to do the same in Baba Amr.”
Meanwhile, France says two French journalists who had been trapped in Homs are now safely out of the country.
Reporter Edith Bouvier, 31, and photojournalist William Daniels, 34, are now in Lebanon, French President Nicolas Sarkozy told a news conference on Thursday.
Ms Bouvier was badly injured in the bombardment of a makeshift media centre last week, in which two journalists were killed and another one wounded.
“I have just spoken to Edith Bouvier, who is naturally very tired, who has suffered a great deal, but who is happy to be free and will be treated soon,” he said. “I want to thank all those who contributed to this happy outcome.”
Syrian authorities say the bodies of two Western journalists killed in the same attack, Marie Colvin of Britain’s Sunday Times and French photojournalist Remi Ochlik, have been found.
A fifth journalist, Javier Espinosa, is reported safe in Lebanon. Inaki Gil, deputy director of the El Mundo newspaper, told AFP he had spoken to Mr Espinosa, who was in Beirut.
Split opposition?
In a unanimous statement on Thursday, the UN Security Council expressed its “disappointment” that UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos had not been granted authorisation to visit Syria, and demanded immediate access for her.
Russia and China, who vetoed two previous Security Council resolutions on Syria, also backed the call.
The council’s 15 member countries also said that they “deplore” the deteriorating situation, “in particular the growing number of affected civilians, the lack of safe access to adequate medical services, and food shortages, particularly in areas affected by fighting and violence such as Homs, Hama, Deraa, Idlib”.
The members urged Syrian authorities to grant “immediate, full and unimpeded access” to aid agencies.
The BBC’s Jim Muir in neighbouring Beirut says that because the statement isolated the humanitarian issue, it was very much more difficult for Russia and China to take a different stand – it was the lowest common denominator on which they could all agree.
But he says beyond that there is a fundamental difference, with the West calling for regime change and Russia and China continuing to insist there must be no such foreign intervention.
On Friday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin again criticised the West for backing the Syrian opposition.
“Instead of encouraging parties to the conflict, it’s necessary to force them to sit down for talks and begin political procedures and political reforms that would be acceptable for all participants in the conflict,” he said.
But Mr Putin insisted Russia had “no special relationship” with the Syrian government.
“Our aim is not to help one of the sides – not the Syrian authorities nor the armed opposition – but to obtain an all round reconciliation.”
The UN estimates more than 7,500 people have died in an 11-month anti-government uprising in Syria.
BBC
