BEIRUT — Two trucks carrying food and medical supplies into rebel-held neighborhoods in the central Syrian city of Homs turned back under heavy fire Saturday, leaving four paramedics wounded as a cease-fire faltered, Syrian officials said.
Talal Barrazi, the governor of Homs province, told the Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV that the attack occurred late in the afternoon and that the trucks were targeted by two roadside bombs and a mortar shell from the rebel side.
Homs activist Ahmad al-Qusair denied there had been roadside bombs and said the convoy was attacked by government mortar fire.
Barrazi later told Syrian state TV that two trucks were able to reach opposition-held neighborhoods earlier in the day. Al-Mayadeen reported that two trucks, carrying 250 food parcels, crossed into rebel-held areas Saturday.
The state TV said four members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent were wounded by rebel fire.
The Syrian Arab Red Crescent said on its Facebook page that it delivered 250 food parcels and 190 parcels containing detergents and medicines to the central neighborhood of Hamidiyeh despite mortar fire. It added that one of its members was slightly wounded and two trucks were damaged.
It was not clear why state media said four paramedics were wounded and the Red Crescent said one.
Barrazi said about 100 civilians expected to be evacuated from rebel-held areas had yet to arrive. On Friday, 83 children, women and elderly people in wheelchairs were evacuated from Homs, the first people to leave the area in months, the U.N. said.
Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar Assad have prevented the entry of food and medical aid into rebel-held parts of the city for more than a year, badly affecting hundreds of civilians holed up in the areas. An agreement had called for a three-day truce to allow some civilians to leave and foods shipments to enter.
Hard-hit Homs city was one of the first areas to rise up against Assad in 2011. Over the past year, the government has regained control over much of the city, except for a few neighborhoods in the historic center.
