Red Cross Urging Syria to Lift Restrictions

Hey, you know what's more evil than killing your civilians; letting them die a slow and painful death from unattended injuries and/or starvation.

The Red Cross is trying to get into the war zone that is Deraa and urging Syria to lift restrictions into the city:

"The International Committee of the Red Cross has urged Syria to lift restrictions on access to casualties in the besieged city of Deraa, as European Union nations press for sanctions against Bashar al-Assad and leading figures in his regime.
Deraa has been the epicentre of anti-government unrest with protesters demanding an end to Assad's presidency and the Baath Party's near-50-year rule. Soldiers and tanks have been deployed there and in other cities in a security crackdown which activists say has claimed hundreds of lives.
"The violence has resulted in a large number of casualties and we fear that if the situation worsens, more lives will be lost," Marianne Gasser, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegation in Damascus, said on Tuesday.
"It is urgent that emergency medical services, first aid workers and others performing life saving tasks swiftly reach those in need," she added in a statement.
ICRC spokesman Hisham Hassan said the doctors and staff from the agency Syrian Red Crescent and other medical workers needed "immediate access to the injured".
"So far we have had restricted access to certain areas, however today we need to have more larger access especially in the south, and here I talk about Deraa," he told journalists.
"We are in touch with Syrian authorities on a daily basis but so far what we have been able to get is access probably tomorrow or the day after to certain hospitals in rural Damascus, but so far no news about Deraa in the south."
Activists say food, water and medical supplies are in short supply in the city, where electricity and communications have been cut since April 26, and have called on Syrians to protest every day at noon in solidarity with the city.
Syria's government accuses "armed groups and terrorists" of attempting to stir unrest.
Syrian security forces swept into the coastal city of Baniyas on Tuesday, a protest leader told the Reuters news agency.
"They moved into the main market area. The army has sealed the northern entrance and security forces [sealed] the south," said Anas al-Shughri. "They armed Alawite villages in the hills overlooking Baniyas and we are now facing militias from the east."

Continue reading: AlJazeera