U.N. Aid Chief Enters Baba Amr with Red Crescent Team

The United Nations' humanitarian chief Valerie Amos entered the battered Baba Amr rebel district of Homs in central Syria on Wednesday along with a Syrian Red Crescent team, the ICRC said.

"Madame Amos entered with the team of volunteers from the Syrian Red Crescent, which stayed 45 minutes in the district," said a spokesman from the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Members of the team reported that "most of Baba Amr's residents have left the area, towards regions where" they could obtain aid from the ICRC, a spokeswoman for the organization said.

Amos had travelled to Homs after visiting Damascus where she held talks with Foreign Minister Walid Muallem who pledged Syria's cooperation with her mission to secure aid for battered protest cities.

Amos flew in for a two-day visit after an international outcry over President Bashar al-Assad's previous refusal to let her in, and she is to be followed by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan on Saturday.

A seven-truck aid convoy has been waiting since Friday to enter Baba Amr which fleeing residents have said is facing an acute humanitarian crisis in the face of a bloody crackdown on dissent by forces of the Syrian regime.

The authorities had said the relief agencies were being barred for their own safety due to the presence of bombs and landmines.

But Syrian anti-regime activists say the authorities are keeping the groups out to buy time to hide their "crimes."

Meanwhile, a joint ICRC-Red Crescent team also managed Wednesday to distribute food and other relief items such as bedding and medical aid, to families who have fled Baba Amr.

Over the past two days, aid has been provided to about 350 families, said the ICRC.