Thousands of Syrian lives in Homs are in peril due to clashes between regime troops and opposition forces, the Red Cross warned Saturday, while calling for a "humanitarian pause" in the fighting in order to bring food and aid supplies to the besieged central province, according to dpa. "We want to bring in humanitarian assistance and enable the evacuation of civilians," said Magne Barth, who heads the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegation in Syria. "But an operation of this kind requires the consent of all sides. And that does not yet exist," he said while in Homs. President Bashar al-Assad's troops recently recaptured several towns in Homs, after Damascus launched a wide-scale offensive against rebels there earlier this month. Berth called on both sides to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid into the old city of Homs, where an estimated 4,000 civilians are trapped. "Should we receive the consent necessary, we will pursue our efforts to bring humanitarian assistance into the old city, provided the parties to the conflict agree to a humanitarian pause in the fighting," he said. More than 93,000 people have been killed in Syria since an anti-government revolt started in March 2011, according to the United Nations.
