Red Cross alarmed over Homs chaos

Red Cross chief Peter Maurer voiced alarm yesterday over the chaos surrounding the evacuation from the besieged Syrian city of Homs, urging the warring sides to respect basic humanitarian law. “I am concerned about the conditions in which the evacuations took place and about the number of people who remain trapped and unaided between front lines throughout Syria,” Maurer, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said in a statement. “Humanitarians working in Homs over the last week were operating in an extremely challenging security environment,” he said, lamenting that neither side in the conflict had provided “firm commitment to respect the basic principles of international humanitarian law.”  The UN-led humanitarian operation to help thousands trapped in rebel-held areas of Homs besieged by the Syrian government for 600 days has been hailed as a success for getting some aid in and managing to evacuate some 1,400 people.