Baba Amr Live Blog

Saleh Dabbakeh, an ICRC spokesperson, said the charity had authorisation from the Syrian authorities to enter the Baba Amr area but had been preventing from doing so for security reasons:

We do have authorisation to enter Baba Amr but unfortunately we still have not been able. The cause … is the security situation. I mean, like you, I have been reading the local newspapers for example that there are booby traps in some buildings. There are mines in some streets. There are explosives that have been planted here and there … But the reason was mainly and continues to be mainly security reasons."

The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Monday that it is still awaiting permission from the Syrian authorities to enter Baba Amr, the rebellious district of Homs overrun last week by regime forces.

"Negotiations are still ongoing," ICRC spokesman Saleh Dabbakeh told AFP.

Rebel fighters fled the neighbourhood on Thursday in the face of a ground assault by regime forces following a month-long shelling blitz which the US-based Human Rights Watch said had killed some 700 people.

A seven-truck aid convoy has been waiting since Friday to enter Baba Amr which fleeing residents say is facing an acute humanitarian crisis. [AFP]

Syrian government artillery fire killed five people in Homs city's Baba Amr district on Friday, opposition activists said, in the third week of bombardments on opposition-held neighbourhoods.

"Baba Amr is being hit with 122mm artillery directed at it from surrounding villages. A father and his 14-year old son were among those killed. They were trying to flee the shelling when shrapnel hit them in the street," Mohammad al-Homsi told Reuters.

-Reuters

This video shows a tank firing as Friday prayers take place in the Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs. The prayers can be clearly heard. The first part of the video is unclear, but the tank’s muzzle can be seen near the middle of the image.

At 25 seconds, the image becomes clearer and the tank fires at about one minute. Other gunfire can be heard — and seen in the case of some from the soldiers in the tank’s turret.

The narrator of the video clearly says “Baba Amr” at the beginning. This video was uploaded to the YouTube channel syriapioneer on February 10. The channel exclusively features videos from the Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs. [storyful]