The seven-truck convoy was the fourth in the last two weeks sent by the Red Cross to Homs in conjunction with the Red Crescent Society, which has 10 distribution points across the city. But the violence in Baba Amr had prevented the establishment of one there.

There were only sketchy details of what was actually needed because communications were so poor, organizers said. “We don’t have any concrete information about what is going on inside,” said Hicham Hassan, a Red Cross spokesman.

Image Credit... The New York Times

Friday has traditionally been the day for mass protests across the country, and they even took place in some Homs neighborhoods despite the violence. With all the talk by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and others of providing arms to the opposition, demonstrators chose the collective name this week of “The Friday of Equipping the Free Syrian Army.”

A heavy security presence in central Damascus kept the city completely shut down, with no buses or other mass transportation vehicles allowed downtown. Similar restrictions were imposed on the suburbs, but several demonstrations erupted that were quickly dispersed by government thugs, the shabeeha, witnesses said.

“The Assad regime wants to frighten us by making big massacre in Baba Amr,” said Subhi, 24, a protester in the suburb of Midan who gave only one name because of fear of retribution. “I want to say to Bashar, if you kill more, we will demonstrate more. We will not return to our homes after a year of uprising. “

In more distant suburbs like Saqba, hundreds managed to gather to demonstrate, and an activist reached by telephone in Aleppo said numerous small protests had been scattered around the city, Syria’s largest. He said the security services had gathered around mosques to prevent any demonstrations and that four tanks were deployed on the main highway leading into Aleppo from the north.