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| Evacuation of Syria's Homs Halts, Governor Blames 'Armed Groups' |
| 2014-02-17 |
| [An Nahar] The evacuation of civilians from Syria's Homs city has halted, with no new efforts to extend a truce and the governor saying Sunday "gangs" prevented operations a day earlier. In a statement, Talal Barazi said "the evacuation of civilians was not carried out yesterday (Saturday) because some of the gangs prevented the citizens inside from moving to the transit point to leave." "The province will continue its efforts with the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... to evacuate all those who wish to leave," he added. The United Nations and Syria's Red Islamic Thingy began operations to evacuate trapped civilians and deliver aid inside besieged parts of Homs on February 7. The work was made possible by a deal that included a ceasefire that was extended twice, but expired on Saturday night with no word of attempts to extend it further. The U.N. and Red Islamic Thingy were able to evacuate some 1,400 of the 3,000 people estimated to be trapped in Homs for more than 18 months by a government siege. But around 400 men and boys aged 15-55 were detained by authorities for investigation upon leaving. Barazi said on Saturday that 390 male evacuees had left Homs, with 211 released so far. On Thursday, the U.N. said 430 men and boys were tossed into the calaboose with just 181 released. The fate of the male evacuees has prompted concern at the U.N. and the International Committee of the Red Thingy, whose chief warned Saturday that they "must be treated humanely at all times and be allowed to contact their families." Peter Maurer also lamented the chaotic evacuation process, which saw aid convoys come under fire and shelling kill more than a dozen people despite the nominal truce. On Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said several besieged neighborhoods of Homs came under regime shelling, and government forces battled rebels in the outskirts of the districts. Regime forces also shelled the Waer neighborhood, a Homs district under opposition control but not subject to the army siege, where most of the evacuees fled. |
| Posted by:Fred |