US concerned by the 'dire and tragic' situation in Homs

In her daily press briefing, the spokeswoman of the US State Department Jennifer Psaki said that the United States “is deeply concerned by the dire and tragic situation in Homs, the latest instance in which the Assad regime is brutalizing its own population.”

She said that her country strongly condemns the breaking of the ceasefire by the regime, as well as its “brutal assault” against residents of old city Homs.

“The regime’s bombardment and encirclement of the city is a despicable example of its starve-and-surrender battlefield approach,” she said. “We urge the regime to cease its attacks on the old city and allow for the delivery of humanitarian assistance.”

Psaki said that the UN Security Council and the whole world are “united in insisting that the regime facilitate immediate and unhindered access for UN humanitarian agencies and lift its sieges.”

In addition, she said: “The United States, along with every member of the international community concerned with the welfare of civilians in this conflict, will not stop its calls in support of the people of old city Homs and all the innocent civilians in Syria who are suffering so much from this brutal war.”

Blaming certain sides, without naming them, for the continuation of the war in Syria, she said: “We call on all those with influence with the regime to realise the fundamentally inhuman intent of the Assad regime, and push the regime to stop its barbaric acts against civilians.”