Lifeline for vulnerable Syrians continues

Governor of Homs Talal Al-Barazi said the evacuation of civilians from the old city of Homs and the food relief for the residents stuck there were put on hold Tuesday due to logistic problems. The humanitarian operation will be resumed tomorrow, Al-Barazi told the state-run SANA news agency. A total of 111 people, aged between 15 and 55, out of 330 who were evacuated from the city over the last few days, have settled. Twenty-nine evacuees were referred to the judiciary authority to investigate their status and 10 others were admitted to hospitals, he said. More children, women and elderly will be evacuated tomorrow under the humanitarian deal struck by the Syrian government and the UN resident representative of the UN Yacub Al-Hilo, Al-Barazi affirmed. On the logistic difficulties facing the evacuations, he said would-be evacuees are located in five separate districts of the city and there are sand roadblocks that need to be removed. On his part, Al-Hilo commended the government for ensuring a smooth and quick settlement of the evacuees and facilitating the relief effort for children, women and elderly people. In a related development, a cargo plane, carrying food relief for the most vulnerable people, has landed at Qamishli aiport, northeast Syria. The shipment is the tenth of airlifts being organized by the UN World Food Program (WFP) between Irbil, north Iraq, and Qamishli, since Tuesday, February 4. This is the second lifeline for the needy in northeast Syria; it targets distribution of 5,800 food rations, director of WFP office in Syria Afraa Noah told KUNA. She noted that 6,500 food parcels were distributed during the first lifeline, adding that the food relief is being organized in collaboration with Syrian Arab Red Crescent