Red Cross and Red Crescent rescue crews evacuated a few wounded and sick women and children from the besieged Syrian city of Homs on Feb. 24, even as Syrian government forces continued shelling parts of the city—especially the neighborhood of Baba Amr, a bastion of antigovernment sentiment. The civilian evacuations came as representatives of world powers met in Tunisia and called for a political solution in Syria, as well as what one diplomat called a “tsunami wave” of pressure that would peel away internal support for the embattled regime. Homs has now endured almost four weeks of Syrian army attacks with artillery and heavy weapons. Hundreds have been killed or wounded and neighborhoods demolished. Residents have been living in makeshift shelters and were running low on food, medical and other supplies. The Syrian opposition claims more than 8,000 people have been killed since the uprising began last March, and a U.N. report released on Feb. 23 accused the Assad regime of “crimes against humanity.”
Syria's Suffering Continues
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
In Los Angeles, people stay for the movie credits. After the awful images of these fires are gone, they will stay to rebuild their city, too.
Catholic Charities USA is now accepting donations to its Los Angeles Wildfire Relief initiative, and the L.A. archdiocese has created a dedicated relief fund.
Warning of “the increasingly concrete threat of a world war,” Pope Francis called for “the diplomacy of hope” in his address to the ambassadors of the 184 countries that have diplomatic relations with the Holy See.
Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal Robert McElroy as Archbishop of Washington, D.C., and Sister Simona Brambilla, an Italian Consolata missionary, as prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.