Escape from Homs: video emerges of Syrian evacuation

More than 600 people left Homs over the weekend under a humanitarian deal agreed between the Syrian government and the UN.

One video clip posted online showed civilians running from behind a barricade towards a convoy of UN vehicles. A voice on the recording identifies noises in the background as the sounds of shelling.

The voice says, in Arabic: “Civilians are leaving under shelling. Women, men, children and elderly are leaving under mortar shelling. February 9, 2014. Audio of shelling. God. I hope no massacre will happen. Run! Run!

“The UN evacuating civilians under shelling. Allahu Akbar. This is the dividing line between the regime army and the FSA, al-Qarabis district. So many cars of the UN to protect civilians even though they can’t protect themselves.”

Aid under fire

On Saturday, a convoy of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) was fired upon in Homs, SARC said the clearly marked vehicles, which were delivering humanitarian aid, came under rifle fire and that mortars exploded nearby.

“Given the extremely difficult conditions prevailing in Syria today – especially in towns like Homs – it is absolutely vital for all parties to the conflict to facilitate the work of all humanitarian and healthcare personnel,” said Abdul Rahman al-Attar, president of SARC.

“They must respect the Red Crescent and Red Cross emblems displayed on tents, buildings, vehicles and clothing and spare those bearing them.”

SARC said that despite being fired upon, including one driver being wounded, the organisation managed to distribute 250 food parcels and 190 hygiene kits.

Desperate escape

People fleeing Homs have faced a year of severe hunger and the threat of death as a brutal stalemate between the government and rebel forces is played out.

Another video shows an interview with an old man and his sister. The man says that his mother died from starvation in Homs, and that his sister is very sick.

More footage posted by anti-Assad activists show the throng of people waiting to be transported away from Homs in UN vehicles.

The Homs exodus has been took place as representatives from the Syrian government and the rival Syrian National Coalition travelled again to Geneva for peace talks. The talk began on Monday with UN mediator Lakhdar Brahimi speaking separately with the delegations.

For the latest talks the SNC, which has been accused of not representing the majority of fighters on the ground in Syria, brought representatives from rebel fighting groups. The SNC said it had brought representatives from the Syrian Rebels Front, which has been fighting the al-Qaeda linked Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) in the north of the country, and rebels from the southern province of Deraa.

The first round of the Geneva II talks struggled to get off the ground – with both sides blaming each other for escalating violence, and failing to reach compromise.

The second round looked set to follow the same path. The SNC delegation accused the government of increasing it use of barrel bombs, whilst the Syrian deputy foreign minister raised an attack on a village by extremist rebels – saying the “massacres” need to stop before any progress can be made.