A pause in fighting to evacuate hundreds of civilians from besieged areas of the city of Homs in Syria is expected to begin on Friday.The ceasefire should also allow long-awaited aid into the worst hit areas.
The UN welcomed reports that a "humanitarian pause" had been agreed with Syrian authorities. Rebels are also expected to back the deal.
Parts of Homs Old City have been under army siege since June 2012 and many areas lie in ruins.
US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki welcomed the agreement but said an evacuation was "not a substitute for the safe, regular and unfettered delivery of humanitarian assistance".
"We should not be giving credit to a regime just for providing food for a few days to people who are starving, given that's the right moral thing to do," she said.
"This is something they should have been doing all along."
The situation in besieged districts of Homs was discussed during peace talks in Geneva a week ago.
Up to 3,000 civilians are believed to be trapped by the fighting and activists say people have survived on little more than olives for weeks.
Farhan Haq, spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, said supplies were positioned on the outskirts of Homs "ready for immediate delivery as soon as the green light was given by the parties for safe passage". Read more..
Source: Latest News in Hindi
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