1,000 trapped inside Homs for months

For more than six months government tanks and blockades have surrounded the Old City district of Homs, leaving everyone inside the area with little food or medical supplies.

"We cannot move at all from our places. We are under siege. The regime is not allowing anyone out," said a rebel fighter calling himself Adnan, speaking to the Daily Telegraph from inside the Old City. "We have been living like this for 171 days. Families are living on rice and flour. We don't have food now, we are suffering; we have not seen milk, or vegetable or meat in months. We would have a party if someone gave us a can of tuna!"
As parts of Homs emerged as the heart of the rebel resistance a year ago, the areas have been the scene of devastating artillery bombardments and air strikes. The narrow streets and ancient buildings of the Old City have been largely destroyed by months of continual fighting.


The conflict in has displaced some 250,000 people in the western across the city, the UN's refugee agency said yesterday [Friday], demanding safe passage for civilians trying to flee the violence.

"This city (Homs) is really in a desperate situation," UNHCR spokesman Melissa Fleming said in Geneva after representatives of the organisation returned from a two-day visit. "Half of the city's hospitals are not functional and there are severe shortages of basic supplies, ranging from medicine to blankets, winter clothes and children's shoes."

The government's blockade is working in choking supplies of weapons and fighters. The rebel's ammunition is so low that they would soon have no choice but to make "one last attempt" to break the siege, said Adnan.

Rebels told the Daily Telegraph that the extremist jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra, that has a presence in Homs countryside, has been working to form a group inside the Old City.

In the city suburbs, and especially in the northern parts of the country, the organisation known for conducting suicide bombings and attracting transnational jihadists growing in strength, said smuggler base in Lebanon who sends supplies to the group.
Earlier this month the Syrian Arab Red Crescent managed to get access to the area for the first time in months to bring a limited supply of aid.
Marianne Gasser, head of the ICRC's delegation in Syria, said: "Because of the ongoing armed confrontation, they are without a proper supply of food, medical items and other necessities."