Is it not time for the siege on Homs to be lifted?

Six months on and more than fourteen neighbourhoods in Homs remain under siege by the forces of Bashar Al-Assad in the city of Homs, prohibiting the entering and exiting into and from the neighbourhoods despite the fact that more than 1200 families are living in an extremely difficult humanitarian situation.

The siege covers all of the old section of Homs, the third largest city in Syria. Since the siege was imposed, food and nutrition, medicine and baby milk have not been allowed to enter the districts as a punishment for the people of Homs due to their participation in the peaceful protests against the rule of the Assad family, which have been continuously taking place in the country for more than 20 months.

The forces of Bashar al-Assad have also prohibited medical teams and ambulances from entering the city, despite the sharp decrease in and lack of medicines, and the presence of tens of injured people whose limbs are mutilated and have been amputated.

Despite the continuous attempts by civilians to transport their injured outside of the city so that they can be treated, all attempts have failed. At times, according to activists in touch with the Syrian Human Rights Committee (SHRC), the forces of Bashar al-Assad fire at those who come close to the checkpoints which separate between the sieged districts of Homs and the outside world.

SHRC strongly condemns this strangling siege and the politics of slow death being practised by the Syrian regime towards the old districts of Homs. The clear disrespect for human rights and dignity through prohibiting food and medicine which will save the lives of civilians is shocking, and the silence of the international community is even more so. SHRC calls for the siege to be lifted and for the world to take action, particularly that there are more than 1200 injured people in the city, among them those whose limbs have been cut off, and others who are in need of immediate and critical operations.

Syrian Human Rights Committee
18/12/12