Ceasefire breaks down, halts aid

(AP):

Two trucks carrying food and medical supplies into rebel-held neighbourhoods in the central Syrian city of Homs turned back under heavy fire yesterday, leaving four paramedics wounded as a ceasefire broke down, Syrian officials said.

Opposition activists said the government broke the truce by launching a rocket attack on one of the neighbourhoods they hold.

Talal Barrazi, the governor of Homs province, told the Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV that the attack occurred late in the afternoon and that the trucks were targeted by two roadside bombs and a mortar shell.

He later told Syrian state TV that two trucks were able to reach opposition-held neighbourhoods earlier in the day.

Al-Mayadeen also reported that two trucks, carrying 250 food parcels, were able to cross into rebel-held areas.

Syrian TV said four members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent were wounded by rebel fire in the area, but gave no further details.

EVACUATIONS BEGIN

Barrazi said about 100 civilians expected to be evacuated from rebel-held areas had yet to arrive. Last Friday, 83 children, women and elderly people on wheelchairs were evacuated from Homs, the first people to leave the area in months, the United Nations said.

Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar Assad have prevented the entry of food and medical aid into rebel-held parts of the city for over a year, badly affecting hundreds of civilians holed up in the areas.

An agreement had called for a three-day truce to allow the evacuation of some civilians and the entry of food shipments.