BEIRUT - Two trucks carrying food and medical supplies into rebel-held neighborhoods in the central Syrian city of Homs turned back under heavy fire Saturday, leaving four paramedics wounded as a cease-fire broke down, Syrian officials said. Opposition activists said the government broke the truce by launching a rocket attack on one of the neighborhoods they hold.
Talal Barrazi, the governor of Homs province, told the Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV that the attack occurred late in the afternoon and that the trucks were targeted by two roadside bombs and a mortar shell.
Homs activist Ahmad al-Qusair, however, denied there had been roadside bombs and said the convoy was attacked by mortar shells fired by government forces.
Barrazi later told Syrian state TV that two trucks were able to reach opposition-held neighborhoods earlier in the day. Al-Mayadeen also reported that two trucks, carrying 250 food parcels, were able to cross into rebel-held areas Saturday.
Syrian TV said four members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent were wounded by rebel fire in the area, but gave no further details.
Barrazi said about 100 civilians expected to be evacuated from rebel-held areas had yet to arrive. On Friday, 83 children, women and elderly people in wheelchairs were evacuated from Homs, the first people to leave the area in months, the United Nations said.
Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar Assad have prevented the entry of food and medical aid into rebel-held parts of the city for more than a year, badly affecting hundreds of civilians holed up in the areas. An agreement had called for a three-day truce to allow the evacuation of some civilians and the entry of food shipments.
Al-Mayadeen aired live footage from the city’s Clock Square showing two white trucks identified with Syrian Arab Red Crescent markings as they returned after coming under fire. The station’s reporter in the area said the radiator of one of the trucks was hit by a bullet.
Earlier in the day, a Syrian official said fighting had broken out and that a mortar shell had landed near U.N. personnel. An activist said combat began when government forces fired 11 rockets toward the rebel-held Hamidiyeh quarter. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters.
U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said in a statement Saturday evening that she was disappointed the three-day humanitarian pause was broken and that aid workers were targeted.
“Today’s events serve as a stark reminder of the dangers that civilians and aid workers face every day across Syria,” the statement read. “I continue to call on those engaged in this brutal conflict to respect the humanitarian pause, ensure the protection of civilians and facilitate the safe delivery of aid.”
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said two people were killed and several others wounded in an attack on rebel-held neighborhoods that residents blamed on government forces.
Homs was one of the first areas to rise up against Assad in 2011 and has been particularly hard hit by the war. During the past year, the government has regained control over much of the city, except for a few neighborhoods in the historic center.
A coalition of exiled Syrian activists said Saturday they feared the agreement would be used as a “prelude to the regime destroying the city.”
Video footage from Homs showed U.N. SUVs in a street full of debris as gunfire rang out. The videos posted online by activists showed wounded men being rushed away from the scene. They corresponded to other Associated Press reports of events.
The Observatory and Syrian state TV reported that a Libyan commander of the al-Qaida-breakaway group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant was killed in fighting with a rival rebel group in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour. The media identified him as Abu Dajana al-Libi.
Also Saturday, military aircraft dropped barrel bombs on rebel-held areas in the northern city of Aleppo, killing at least 15. The bombings are part of a weeks-long campaign by Assad’s forces to wrest control of the city.
Activists say the barrel bombs often prepare the way for a government advance. But the crude weapons cannot be aimed precisely and have killed hundreds of civilians.
More than five such bombs exploded on roads in the adjacent areas of Masaken Hanano and Haidariyeh, said Mohammed Wissam of the Aleppo Media Center.
Information for this article was contributed by Albert Aji of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 8 on 02/09/2014