The Red Cross is due to enter the Baba Amr district of the Syrian city of Homs on Friday to deliver food and medical supplies.

国际红十字会将于周五进入叙利亚霍姆斯城Baba Amr地区提供食品和医疗援助。

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is to enter the area with the Syrian Red Crescent, and is also planning to evacuate¹ the wounded.

The area has suffered heavy bombardment by government forces in recent weeks.

The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) said on Thursday it was leaving the district in a "tactical withdrawal²".

The FSA said 4,000 civilians³ had refused to leave their homes and it was withdrawing to save them from an all-out assault.

Of the 100,000 people who normally live in Baba Amr, only a few thousand remain.

'Extremely worrying'

It has been snowing heavily in Homs, slowing the advance of government troops who began an offensive on Tuesday, but also worsening conditions for civilians.

Many of those still in Baba Amr are without power and running low on basic supplies.

"We fear there are many people who are seriously wounded [in Baba Amr]," ICRC spokeswoman Carla Haddad Mardini told the BBC on Thursday.

"We know the humanitarian⁴ situation on the ground is extremely worrying," she added.

Meanwhile, France says two French journalists who had been trapped in Homs are now safely out of the country.

Reporter Edith Bouvier, 31, and photojournalist William Daniels, 34, are now in Lebanon, French President Nicolas Sarkozy told a news conference on Thursday.

Ms Bouvier was badly injured in the bombardment of a makeshift media centre last week, in which two journalists were killed and another one wounded.

"I have just spoken to Edith Bouvier, who is naturally very tired, who has suffered a great deal, but who is happy to be free and will be treated soon," he said. "I want to thank all those who contributed to this happy outcome."

Unconfirmed reports say the bodies of two Western journalists killed in the same attack, Marie Colvin of Britain's Sunday Times and French photojournalist Remi Ochlik, have been found.

Video footage posted on the internet purported⁵ to show both bodies being buried by activists⁶ in Homs.