SYRIA- The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the Syrian Arab Red Crescent had brought out seven Syrian women and children and taken them to a hospital in Homs.
ICRC chief spokeswoman Carla Haddad told Reuters in Geneva. "It's a first step forward. The priority now is evacuating the seriously wounded or sick."
The ICRC negotiated with Syrian authorities and opposition members Saturday for daily breaks in fighting so wounded people can be evacuated from the besieged city of Homs, an agency spokesman said.
The talks occurred a day after Syrian forces agreed to a brief cease-fire in Homs to allow Red Crescent volunteer crews to evacuate seven wounded people, International Committee of the Red Cross spokesman Hisham Hassan told CNN in a telephone interview. Twenty Syrian women and children, who were not hurt, were also evacuated, he said.
ICRC chief spokeswoman Carla Haddad told Reuters in Geneva. "It's a first step forward. The priority now is evacuating the seriously wounded or sick."
The ICRC negotiated with Syrian authorities and opposition members Saturday for daily breaks in fighting so wounded people can be evacuated from the besieged city of Homs, an agency spokesman said.
The talks occurred a day after Syrian forces agreed to a brief cease-fire in Homs to allow Red Crescent volunteer crews to evacuate seven wounded people, International Committee of the Red Cross spokesman Hisham Hassan told CNN in a telephone interview. Twenty Syrian women and children, who were not hurt, were also evacuated, he said.
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The ICRC has urged combatants stop fighting for two hours each day to deliver humanitarian aid to Homs and other cities.
The calls for a cessation of violence come amid increasingly dire reports in Homs from the opposition and humanitarian organizations, who describe a lack of medical supplies, food and water shortages and an increasing body count.
But the evacuation of victims delivered a glimmer of hope for Homs residents who'd been trapped by shelling and sniper fire for three weeks.
(ICRC) said it had resumed negotiations with the Syrian authorities and the opposition to enable more civilians to be brought to safety.
Nadir Husseini, an activist in Baba Amro, told Reuters that people in Baba Amro were suspicious of the ICRC's local partner, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, and did not want to work with a group "under the control of the regime."
The ICRC denied this, saying the Syrian Red Crescent was an independent organization. "Their volunteers are risking their lives on a daily basis to help everyone with no exceptions," ICRC spokesman Hicham Hassan said in Geneva.
In turn, Syria state-run news agency SANA reported “The Syrian Red Crescent teams on Friday entered Baba Amr neighborhood in Homs and rescued a number of injured civilians who were immediately admitted to Homs hospitals to receive treatment. The civilians were wounded by the attacks of the armed terrorist groups.”
"I came from Baba Amr… the armed groups are shelling our homes and shooting fire at any person in the street to kill or kidnap him/her… they prevent us from going out since 23 days," one citizen from Baba Amr told SANA.
Another lady from the same area said that the armed groups hit and shell everything inside the alley, adding "we lived in fear till we were able to get out through the help of the Red Crescent." according to SANA report.
The ICRC said the Syrian Red Crescent had evacuated a total of 27 people from Baba Amr on Friday. Four Western journalists, two of whom were wounded in an attack that killed two other foreign journalists on Wednesday have yet to be extracted from the shattered neighborhood.
Earlier, the president of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross Jakob Kellenberger said "The current situation requires an immediate decision to implement a humanitarian pause in the fighting,"
"In Homs and in other affected areas, entire families have been stuck for days in their homes, unable to step outside to get bread, other food or water, or to obtain medical care." Kellenberger added.
Kellenberger said the cease-fire should last at least two hours daily, so that Red Cross staff and Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers have enough time to deliver aid and evacuate the wounded.
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