UN envoys, faith leaders and humanitarian groups, intensified international efforts June 20 to secure safe passage for about 800 Syrian civilians, half of whom are Sunni Muslims and half Christians, trapped in Homs, Syria by armed combat between government and opposition forces.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent “are attempting to evacuate and otherwise assist people stranded … by the ongoing fighting” between rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
The ICRC said it “made a request on 19 June for a temporary pause in the fighting to the Syrian authorities and to different opposition groups. The authorities officially agreed to our request, and the opposition groups gave assurances that they would respect the pause.”
“The situation is extremely worrisome,” said Ahmad Fawzi, spokesman for Kofi Annan, the UN and Arab League Joint Special Envoy on Syria. “We are still monitoring and appealing to both sides to make it happen,” he said.
Meanwhile, Agenzia Fides, the Vatican news agency, on 19 June quoted an Orthodox priest, Fr. Boutros Al Zein, saying that the 400 Christians are “mostly elderly and women … becoming human shields to prevent the attack of regular Syrian forces.”
The Fides dispatch also reported that, “in recent days, two Orthodox Christian priests, Fr. Maximos Al Jamal and Fr. Boutros Al Jamal, tried to negotiate to free the hostages, but the initiative failed.” It also said the Syrian army has “agreed to allow the evacuation of civilians.”
