Humanitarian Conditions Worsen in Homs as Siege Continues

March 01, 2012 from Al Jazeera English

As residents of the besieged Homs district of Baba Amr lined up outside with buckets in a desperate attempt to reap drinking water from the slight snowfall, the government continued to attack the opposition stronghold to only worsen its humanitarian conditions. Witnesses say Baba Amr is surrounded by government forces as they continued to shell residential areas using heavy tanks and rockets for the 27th day in a row. Some activists say opposition fighters have been withdrawing from the district as a "tactical retreat." They said they were running out of weapons and humanitarian conditions were catastrophic. Meanwhile, the Syrian Red Crescent has been denied passage into Baba Amr to help deliver much needed aid to residents. Al Jazeera's Laurence Lee reports.

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Siege of Homs

The Siege of Homs is a series of military operations being conducted by the Syrian military in the city of Homs as a part of the Syrian civil war. Homs is the third most populated city of Syria, located 100 km north of Damascus and sometimes called the "Capital of the Revoluti... Explore this topic

Syria

Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest. A country of fertile plains, high mountains and deserts, i... Explore this topic

Homs

Homs, previously known as Emesa, is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is 501 metres above sea level and is located 162 kilometres north of Damascus. Located on the Orontes River, Homs is also the central link between the interior cities and th... Explore this topic

Syrian Civil War

The Syrian civil war is an ongoing armed conflict in Syria between forces loyal to the Syrian Ba'ath Party government and those seeking to oust it. The conflict began on 15 March 2011, with popular demonstrations that grew nationwide by April 2011. These demonstrations were pa... Explore this topic

Residential area

A residential area is a land use in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residential, or mobile homes. Zoning for res... Explore this topic

Syrian Red Crescent

The Syrian Arab Red Crescent is a humanitarian None Profit Organization and an auxiliary team to the medical service of the Syrian Army in Times of War. Its headquarter is located in the Syrian capital city of Damascus. The society was founded in 1942, and admitted to the Inte... Explore this topic

Civilian casualties

Civilian casualties is a military term describing civilian persons killed, injured, or imprisoned by military action. Civilian casualties can be associated with the outcome of any form of military action regardless of whether civilians were targeted directly or not. This diffe... Explore this topic

Snow

Snow is precipitation in the form of flakes of crystalline water ice that fall from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless subjected to external pressure. Snowflakes come in a variet... Explore this topic

Humanitarian aid

Humanitarian aid is material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes, typically in response to humanitarian crises including natural disaster and man-made disaster. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintai... Explore this topic

Drinking water

Drinking water or potable water is water safe enough to be consumed by humans or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry meets drinking water standards, even though only a very smal... Explore this topic

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