DAMASCUS, Syria
(AP) -- A United Nations official is negotiating with rebel fighters
in besieged neighborhoods of a central Syrian city to allow the
evacuation of civilians, the provincial governor and an activist said
Tuesday.
Talal Barrazi, the governor of Homs
province, said in a statement that policewomen, paramedics and members
of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent are ready to arrange the evacuation from
the city of Homs and "we are waiting for the U.N.'s response."
The
comments come two days after a tentative agreement was reached at peace
talks in Geneva between the Syrian government and its opponents for the
evacuation of women and children trapped in Homs before aid convoys
enter. U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who is mediating the
Swiss talks, said security problems are delaying the evacuation.
The old city of Homs has been under siege for nearly two years.
"We
are hopeful that the U.N. team will succeed in getting an approval from
armed groups in the old city to guarantee evacuation of civilians,"
Barrazi said. "We are ready."
An activist in
Homs who goes by the name Firas al-Homsi confirmed that talks are taking
place, and said the government is "refusing to allow food" into the
area.
"Nothing has changed since the Geneva
talks and yesterday we were subjected to heavy shelling," al-Homsi said
via Skype. He said the conditions in besieged areas are miserable, with
people mostly relying on olives to survive.
Homs, Syria's third-largest city, has been one of the hardest hit areas since the country's crisis began in March 2011.
The
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said several Homs
neighborhoods were being subjected to mortar and heavy machine gun fire
Tuesday. It said there were no casualties.
Barrazi
said Syrian authorities have asked the International Committee of the
Red Cross to help in evacuating Father Francis Van Der Lugt from a
monastery in Bustan al-Diwan in Homs. Van Der Lught, 72, has been living
in Syria since 1964.
On Saturday, the Dutch
priest wrote on a Syrian Christian Facebook page that "hunger has rolled
over us! Hunger defeated us! We can see its signs drawn over the
faces."
"People are wandering the streets
screaming; We are starving, we need food! They stop by the inhabited
houses trying to find some food. Hunger breaks the rules and eliminates
all moral principles," the priest wrote in a statement published in
English and French. "We are living a scary reality. Human beings turn
into wild animals living in the wild!"
Elsewhere
in Syria, violence claimed more lives Tuesday with clashes around the
country and several air raids on the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's
largest and former commercial center, according to the Observatory and
the Aleppo Media Center. The Observatory said there were casualties
while the AMC said the death toll could be as high as 20 in Aleppo.
The
Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees reported heavy
clashes late Monday in the village of Rahjan in the central province of
Hama. The Observatory said the fighting was between government troops
and members of al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.
The
Observatory said 13 soldiers and five Nusra Front fighters were killed
in the clashes. It said a Saudi citizen carry out a suicide car bombing
in the operation.
State media reported that
troops killed scores of "terrorists" throughout the country, employing
the term government officials use to refer to opposition fighters.
Also
Tuesday, a militant website used by jihadi groups reported that Turki
al-Ashaari, the Nusra Front's Islamic judge, was killed in an attack on a
government stronghold and Syrian troops in Hama. It did not say when he
was killed or give his nationality, but described him as "one of Nusra
Front's lion heros."
---
Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Maamoun Youssef contributed to this report from Cairo.
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