Humanitarian crisis grows in Syria as violence escalates The International Committee of the Red Cross claims evacuating civilians from the city of Homs is proving difficult as the security situation deteriorates. Homs is at the epicentre of a 15-month revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. The international community is failing to offer a coherent policy. The West and their Sunni Muslim allies in the Gulf and Turkey want Assad out, while Russia, China and Iran have sheltered the regime from a tougher international response. Calls are growing for a more robust policy on Syria. The Russians are clearly not interested. Sergey Lavrov is the Russian Foreign Minister: To impose on the Syrians decisions taken elsewhere and which are not a product of an inter Syrian dialogue, are not acceptable to us and we will have nothing to do with it. The UN now has hundreds of monitors on the ground, but their mission has been halted as the violence escalates. More about: Civil War, Clashes and riots, Friends of Syria, Syria, Syrian politics