Amos Assesses Homs

UN Aid Chief in Syria

Human Rights – Valerie Amos, United Nations aid chief, briefly entered the war torn Baba Amr district of Homs with Syrian Red Crescent (SRC) officials to assess the humanitarian needs before moving on to other districts. According to Sana, the Syrian state news agency, Walid Muallim, Syrian Foreign Minister, has indicated that the government has been trying to “help civilians,” and will “cooperate” with Amos’ team.

The Free Syrian Army (FSA) left the district last week, claiming that they wanted to prevent further civilian deaths, and asked for aid teams to enter the area. However, the SRC and other aid teams have been unable to enter the devastated area because authorities have been blocking their entry since Friday, citing “danger from unexploded ordnance.”

Even with the FSA leaving the area, many fear that other cities will become the next battle ground, including the northern city Idlib, and reports have come in that 39 people were killed in the country on Wednesday alone, including 26 in Homs. Other areas reporting deaths include “six in Idlib, three in Deraa, and two each in suburbs of Damascus and Aleppo.” None of the reports can be independently verified since international media organizations are restricted in the area.

Despite Russia and China vetoing the first two UN resolutions, the U.S. has indicated that it will propose a new “UN Security Council resolution demanding an end to violence in Syria.” China has removed most of its workers from the area, so the new resolution may well pass this time.

Barack Obama has called the situation in Syria “heartbreaking,” and said that U.S. “unilateral military intervention in the country would be a mistake.”

“The notion that the way to solve every one of these problems is to deploy our military, that hasn’t been true in the past, and it won’t be true now,” said Obama.

Since the violence in Syria started, it is estimated that over 7,500 people have died.

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Read more at BBC News.