Valerie Amos was stopped from going into areas of Homs still held by the opposition, despite receiving assurances from Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem in earlier talks that she could go to any part of the country, her spokeswoman Amanda Pitt told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"She says that the parts they saw were completely devastated," Pitt told AFP. "She said Homs feels like a city that has been completely closed down.
"There were very few people around. They did see a few people looking for their belongings, that kind of thing."
The group "tried to get into opposition areas, but they were not able to do so. Security was definitely an issue. They heard gunfire as well," Pitt said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a child was among four people rubbed out on Wednesday in Khaldiyeh, a Homs neighborhood where rebels remain active.
They were among 19 people killed in violence nationwide, the Britannia-based watchdog added.
But the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, gave a higher corpse count.
Security forces killed 26 people in Homs, seven in the northwestern province of Idlib, two in the northern province of Aleppo
...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
, three in the southern province of Daraa and two in the restive countryside around Damascus
...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations...
, the LCC said.
The Red Islamic Thingy and the International Committee of the Red Thingy had been trying since last Friday to enter Baba Amr -- the target of a month-long bombardment to oust rebel fighters -- but the government repeatedly barred them from evacuating maimed civilians and delivering desperately needed supplies.
Amos and the Red Islamic Thingy team were only able to make a lightning tour of Baba Amr during her hard-won visit, ICRC officials said.
"Amos entered with the team of volunteers from the Syrian Red Islamic Thingy, which stayed 45 minutes in the district," ICRC front man Hisham Hassan said in Geneva.
Aid was being distributed to the displaced civilians in the areas where they had found refuge and some 350 families had been given assistance over the past two days, he said.
Last week, ICRC president Jakob Kellenberger called the government's decision to deny aid workers access to Baba Amr "unacceptable."
The authorities said the earlier ban was prompted by safety concerns but the opposition charged that the delay was aimed at allowing time for the regime's "crimes" to be covered up.
Amos flew in to Damascus for a two-day visit after an international outcry over the earlier refusal of
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
The Scourge of Hama...
's regime to let her in.
She is to be followed by U.N.-Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
envoy Kofi Annan on Saturday.
The former U.N. chief was in Cairo on Wednesday ahead of his first visit since his appointment as international envoy for Syria.
In his talks with Amos, Muallem "underlined Syria's commitment to cooperate with the delegation within the framework of the respect, illusory sovereignty and independence of Syria," state SANA news agency said.
Observatory chief Rami Abdul Rahman said the overall corpse count since last March has now reached almost 8,500, with civilians accounting for three-quarters of those killed.
Meanwhile,
...back at the Alamo, Davy was counting their remaining cannon balls and not liking the results...
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta
...current SecDef, previously Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993....
said Washington was looking at delivering non-lethal aid to rebel forces, while warning of the risks of military action against Assad's regime without international consensus or a unified opposition.
While outraged at the killing of civilians in Syria, the U.S. government is opposed to taking unilateral military action and favors pursuing diplomacy to force Assad to step down, Panetta told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Asked by Senator Richard Blumenthal if the United States was ready to deliver communications equipment to Syrian rebels, Panetta said: "I'd prefer to discuss that in a closed session but I can tell you that we're considering an array of non-lethal assistance."
His answer marked the first time President Barack Obama
I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody...
's administration had suggested it was ready to provide direct assistance to Syria's rebels, who are badly outgunned by the regime's tanks and artillery.
The Pentagon chief condemned the Syrian regime's crackdown but expressed caution about military intervention, citing a lack of international consensus, a deeply divided resistance and the risk of fueling a civil war.
"We are reviewing all possible additional steps that can be taken with our international partners to support efforts to protect the Syrian people, end the violence and ensure regional stability, including potential military options if necessary," Panetta said.
"Although we will not rule out any future course of action, currently the administration is focusing on diplomatic and political approaches rather than a military intervention," he said.
Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki renewed an offer of asylum to Assad in an interview to be shown Thursday, after Russia said the Syrian leader said there was no question of it granting the Syrian leader refuge.
Incoming president Vladimir Putin
...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile...had rejected the idea of Russia offering Assad refuge as a way of helping put an end to nearly a year of bloodshed in its Soviet-era ally.
"We are not even discussing this question," news agencies quoted him as saying.