ANTAKYA,
Turkey — A three-day humanitarian cease-fire in the Syrian city of Homs
was supposed to be a small breakthrough, a moment of relief for
civilians trapped in a grim civil war.
But
mortar rounds and gunfire struck near aid convoys, damaging vehicles
and leaving victims lying in the streets. Snipers fired on civilians as
they fled their besieged neighborhood. Others refused to leave, fearing a
massacre of those left behind. Limited food made it in, and some of the
nearly 700 people who reached safety said they had been surviving on
one meal a day and that some of their neighbors had resorted to eating
grass.
Though
few expect the international peace talks that resume in Geneva on
Monday to end the war, many hope they will make life less brutal for
ordinary Syrians by creating local cease-fires and opening up access to
aid.
But
what took place in Homs highlights the tremendous difficulties plaguing
even modest humanitarian efforts, making it unlikely that the episode
will emerge as a model to be repeated elsewhere.
The
attacks on the aid convoys will also raise the stakes for the United
Nations Security Council this week, as it weighs a draft resolution
meant to force the government and rebel groups to permit aid
organizations to operate.
read more http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/10/world/middleeast/in-homs-syria-still-no-relief-from-a-siege.html?ref=world&_r=0
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