Syrian army shells Homs as Red Cross awaits green light
By REUTERS
06/21/2012 11:37
BEIRUT - Residents in Homs city said the Syrian army was shelling
central districts on Thursday, after rebels and forces loyal to
President Bashar Assad agreed to a temporary truce to allow aid access
to the sick and wounded.
Teams from the International Committee of the Red Cross and its partner
the Syrian Red Crescent were standing by in Homs. More than 10 days of
heavy fighting has left hundreds of civilians stuck in the old city of
Homs, unable to leave the battlefield, the ICRC said on Wednesday.
Waleed Faris, a resident of one neighborhoods the ICRC was trying to
enter, said shelling was heaviest at dawn on Thursday but there were
signs the violence may be subsiding.
"Early this morning there was heavy shelling. Now I can hear one or two
mortars fall every half an hour. It is quiet today compared to the past
few days," he said, adding that two people had died in his neighborhood
of Khalidiya on Thursday.