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Press TV has conducted an interview with Ridwan Rizk, political analyst, Beirut about recent militant attacks on a joint UN-Syrian red crescent aid convoy in the Syrian city of Homs and the potential architects of such atrocity.

- What is your opinion of the violation of this three day cease fire?

- I think with no doubt that the...[militants] in Homs must be held responsible for the attack on this convoy because as we know that they have been using civilians as a human shield so they can hide behind the civilians in order to prevent the government from invading or taking over the strongholds in neighborhoods in each city in Syria.

Those who have seen this symbol in Yarmouk camp inside Damascus now people are dying out of starvation; also the aid convoys were under attack by snipers – so they have prevented any kind of aid from entering the Yarmouk camp.

Now we are seeing the same scenario taking place in Homs, which they have decided to keep the civilians inside their strongholds and neighborhoods, anywhere they have presence so that will prevent, or have obstacles, from allowing the government i.e. the Syrian army to have some freehand operations over those gangs who are using the civilians as shields to hide behind.

As we know, many Westerners are not very clear with their reports by coming out of the UN as to whom to blame for the attack on these convoys.

The UN knows very well and very strongly that they knew where the fire came from and where the mortars were shelled from - So they must have some clear reports on that and decide whomever is responsible for this kind of act must be held and questioned for anything or any behavior, which any humanitarian behavior at all. So, as they know the rebels who were the responsible side, they kept it big so the questions to be asked or for the government to be held to blame.

I don’t think that the government has any responsibility at all in this kind of act because the government...is succeeding with that and now they are having serious talks – tomorrow there are serious talks in Geneva. Also the government could not go to the Geneva talks with their hands full of blood.

I think that the rebels do not care about any kind of reputation; they do not care about international opinion of their behavior, and they have shown, as I’ve said, they’ve shown repeatedly that they don’t care about even civilian lives anywhere.

So that’s why as long as they can keep the civilians as prisoners and using them – no matter if they die from shelling or fighting between either sides, or they will eventually die out of hunger. As long as those armed people or those gangs can still provide their own medicines, their own food and water, they won’t give any kind of attention or sympathy to those civilians who are trapped in this fighting and they have no way out because the government so far out of 3,000 people only evacuated 83, which were allowed by those gangs inside Homs.

So who is stopping or preventing those civilians from leaving Homs so far? I believe the government received those civilians and gave them all the protection they needed and all the attention they need.

But the rebels now are preventing the rest of those civilians, of those 3,000 civilians from getting out, not only letting aid in.
So far it is very clear for me reporting on the information that I had from inside Homs that the rebels are not allowing even civilians to leave their homes in order to reach the government’s side and to be transferred or moved to a safe shelter inside Syria or outside Syria.

The rebels no doubt are responsible for this kind of inhuman act against the Syrian convoys and against also the Syrian civilians.