Red Cross on standby as army shells Homs

The Syrian army continues to shell central districts in the Syrian city of Homs on Thursday, residents said, despite a two-hour truce agreed by forces loyal to President Assad to allow aid access to the sick and wounded.

By News Wires (text)

REUTERS - Residents in Homs city said the Syrian army was shelling central districts on Thursday, after rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad agreed to a temporary truce to allow aid access to the sick and wounded.

Teams from the International Committee of the Red Cross and its partner the Syrian Red Crescent were standing by in Homs. More than 10 days of heavy fighting has left hundreds of civilians stuck in the old city of Homs, unable to leave the battlefield, the ICRC said on Wednesday.

Syrian fighter pilot defects to Jordan

AP - Jordan's information minister says a Syrian fighter jet defected to Jordan and its pilot sought political asylum in the kingdom.

The minister Sameeh Maaytah confirmed the defection on Thursday.

Initially, Jordanian officials said the plane made an emergency landing at a northern Jordanian airbase. They said the Russian-made MiG-21 landed at the King Hussein Air Base in Mafraq, a northern Jordanian town bordering Syria.

Waleed Faris, a resident of one neighbourhoods the ICRC was trying to enter, said shelling was heaviest at dawn on Thursday but there were signs the violence may be subsiding.

“Early this morning there was heavy shelling. Now I can hear one or two mortars fall every half an hour. It is quiet today compared to the past few days,” he said, adding that two people had died in his neighbourhood of Khalidiya on Thursday.

A live video feed posted on the Internet by activists showed smoke rising from the city and the sound of persistent gunfire could be heard. It was difficult to verify to the footage because of the restrictions imposed on foreign journalists.

Homs has been at the centre of the 15-month revolt against Assad and became the focus of world concern in February and March, when opposition-held neighbourhoods endured weeks of government bombardments and sniper fire in which hundreds of people were killed.

A Homs resident said a similar evacuation agreement was reached a few days ago but collapsed when shots were fired by Assad’s forces. The government said on Tuesday it was trying to evacuate civilians and blamed rebel fighters for obstructing efforts to get people out safely.