Aid Enters Homs, 611 Civilians Escape With Convoy

Roughly a Quarter of Old City's Remaining Civilians Leave

Deals on allowing aid into the rebel-held “old city” neighborhood of Homs have gotten off to a relatively good start, with UN and Red Crescent trucks entering the city with food aid.

60 parcels and a ton of wheat flour were delivered, though the trucks came under some fire and were at points trapped inside the city. One driver was even lightly injured by gunfire. They didn’t leave empty-handed either, bringing nearly a quarter of the city’s remaining population with them.

“The last vehicle has arrived and the total is 611 people,” was the official announcement from the provincial governor. The Assad government had offered aid to any civilians willing to leave the rebel-held neighborhood, which has been under siege for over a year now.

Most of the neighborhood fled long ago, but some 2,500 were believed to be trapped inside, and there was much dispute over whether the rebels holding the neighborhood would allow them to go, or if the Syrian military would let them out without arresting them as rebel collaborators.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.