Syrian troops apparently halt Homs shelling as some wounded are evacuated

BEIRUT, Lebanon ? Syrian Arab Red Crescent workers rescued a small number of wounded civilians Friday from the hard-hit Baba Amr neighborhood of the city of Homs as representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian government negotiated over a ceasefire that would allow still larger evacuations.

The barrage of mortar and rocket fire that had rained down on the neighborhood came to a halt apparently for the first time in three weeks as the negotiations took place.

Two journalists wounded Wednesday in a hail of fire that killed two of their colleagues were apparently not among the seven women and children rescued Friday and taken to a local Homs hospital. But diplomatic efforts to bring the wounded journalists to safety were continuing, and an ICRC spokesman in Damascus said Red Cross officials were trying to "evacuate all persons in need of help with no exception whatsoever."

It was unclear whether that would include not just the journalists, Edith Bouvier of France and Paul Conroy of Britain, but also wounded anti-government fighters.

Homs has become the most deadly city in Syria as the government of President Bashar Assad has sought to end a rebellion that began last year. A halt to the shelling in Homs, even for a brief period, would mark a break in the government's furious assault after weeks of bloodshed. At least 120 people have been killed in the past two days in Homs, according to activists, with many bodies remaining trapped under rubble.

Saleh Dabbakeh, the ICRC spokesman in Damascus, said he could not say whether the shelling of the area had ceased during the negotiations, but he said the fact that the talks were taking place indicated that it had.

"If we are there and trying to evacuate, I don't think there would be any kind of shelling," he said.

Dabbakeh said there was "trouble and unrest in other parts of the country," but he provided no locations. "It's localized, it's in certain provinces," he said.

Bouvier and Conroy, who entered the country illegally to cover the Syrian army's onslaught against the stronghold of the rebel Free Syrian Army, appeared in a video on Thursday asking to be allowed safe passage out of Baba Amr.

Dabbakeh said Friday's evacuations were not the first since the beginning of the most recent army campaign against Baba Amr. He said that the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent since Feb. 11 have been able to get two convoys of evacuees out of Homs and three out of the area around the western town of Zabadani.

He also said that Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers have been handing out humanitarian assistance and providing first aid to residents of Homs, Syria's third largest city, at nine distribution points.

"Assistance never really stopped," said Dabbakeh. "There were certain periods of time when it was difficult, sometimes very difficult."

Meanwhile, the ICRC was continuing to negotiate an agreement between the Assad regime and opposition representatives for a daily two-hour nationwide "humanitarian pause" in the fighting to allow for deliveries of food, medicines and other supplies to violence-hit towns and cities, he said.

Syrian activists said Friday that the journalists were waiting to be evacuated until there was a diplomatic presence involved.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/24/2659469/syrian-troops-apparently-halt.html

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