The Red Cross told Syria today it was unacceptable that its aid convoy had been prevented from entering a battle-scarred district of Homs where the opposition said president Bashar al-Assad's army had committed a massacre.
Baba Amro became a symbol of resistance to Dr Assad after government troops surrounded it with tanks and artillery and shelled it intensively for weeks, killing and wounding civilians cowering in its ruined buildings.
Rebels withdrew yesterday in a key moment in the year-old uprising against Dr Assad's rule.
An official at Syria's ministry of foreign affairs and expatriates said the army had "cleansed Baba Amro from the foreign-backed armed groups of terrorists".
Activists said Syria's army was hunting down and killing insurgents who had stayed to cover their comrades' retreat, although the reports could not be verified. They said 10 young men were shot dead today.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said its convoy has reached the bombarded area, which has been under siege for 26 days, but was not allowed to enter.
"It is unacceptable that people who have been in need of emergency assistance for weeks have still not received any help," ICRC president Jakob Kellenberger said in a statement.
"We are staying in Homs tonight in the hope of entering Baba Amro in the very near future."
An activist in Homs said: "The Syrian army was holding the convoy up because they want to clean up after what they have done in Baba Amro." This could not be independently confirmed.
"All men who remained in the neighbourhood aged between 14 and 50 were arrested. We fear they will be massacred. Where is the world?" said one activist.
"The massacres are continuing. They are torturing them and killing (detainees) one by one. They are executing them in batches," another activist, who left Baba Amro today, said.
Many fighters out of the 2,000 who were based in Baba Amro were killed and wounded in the onslaught, they said, adding that a final toll was impossible to give because of the heavy shelling and siege.
Hundreds were reported to have fled.
The ICRC convoy of 7 trucks carrying food and other aid supplies left Damascus early today for Homs, where it met local volunteers and ambulances of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent prepared to treat and evacuate the sick and wounded.
Defiant protesters took to the streets after Friday prayers in towns and cities across Syria - Homs, Hama, Deir al-Zor, Deraa, Douma and several districts in Damascus, television footage showed.
Activists' video footage appeared to show troops shooting at demonstrators. The activists said 40 people were killed in violence across the country today.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 13 people were killed when troops fired a mortar bomb at a protest in the town of Rastan. Independent verification of such reports is hard as foreign media are mostly barred from Syria.
"God curse you Hafez for having a son like that," shouted protesters in reference to Dr Assad's father who ruled Syria for three decades until he died in 2000.
"The people want to announce Jihad (Holy War)", read a banner.
In Geneva, the United Nations human rights body had earlier reminded Dr Assad of his obligations under international law.
"We are alarmed at reports starting to come out of the Baba Amro district of Homs after it was taken over by government forces yesterday," spokesman Rupert Colville said.
One pro-government figure said troops had "broken the back" of the uprising and the rebel withdrawal heralded impending victory over what he termed a Western-backed insurgency.
The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) said yesterday it was leaving Baba Amro - normally home to 100,000 residents. Only 4,000 people remain.
Conditions in the heavily bombarded district are hellish. TV footage showed heavy snow and freezing weather, with residents lacking electricity or fuel for heating. There is also a shortage of food and medical supplies.
Barely a building has escaped damage from artillery shelling and many are pock-marked with bullet holes.
In a rare show of unity with Western powers, Russia and China joined other Security Council members at the United Nations in expressing "deep disappointment" at Syria's failure to allow the UN humanitarian aid chief Valerie Amos to visit the country, and urged that she be allowed in immediately.
It was the first statement on Syria from the council, which has been deadlocked on the issue, since August last year. But it was not immediately clear how far Moscow and Beijing - hitherto Dr Assad supporters - had shifted their position.
Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin appeared to distance himself from Dr Assad in an interview with a group of European editors, saying he had no special relationship with him.
"It is up to the Syrians to decide who should run their country ... We need to make sure they stop killing each other," the London Times quoted Mr Putin as saying today.
France said it would shut its Syrian embassy and was ready to step up support of the rebels if the UN security council cleared the way for such a move.
"Dictators will all, one day, have to pay for their actions," French president Nicolas Sarkozy said.
British prime minister David Cameron said Syria's rulers would be held to account.
"We need to start collecting the evidence now so that one day, no matter how long it takes, there will be a day of reckoning for this dreadful regime," Mr Cameron told reporters at a summit of EU leaders in Brussels.
The European Union was planning to call for more pressure on Dr Assad, including sanctions, according to a draft of its conclusions. It was preparing to urge the Arab League to convene a meeting of the Syrian National Council, which it said it recognised as a legitimate representative of the Syrian people.
The EU has over the past months been adding names to a list of people it sanctions with travel bans and asset freezes.
As news of the rebel pull-out from Baba Amro spread, video footage released on the Internet appeared to show the bodies of American journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik being buried in Homs, where they were killed in shelling eight days ago.
The ICRC said later their two bodies had been handed over to officials from the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.
French journalists Edith Bouvier, who was wounded in the same bombardment, and William Daniels returned to Paris today from Lebanon, the last of a handful of reporters trapped in the city.
Armed rebels and defecting soldiers have been spearheading the revolt against Dr Assad that began with largely peaceful protests inspired by the Arab Spring, but escalated after a government crackdown.
As the drama unfolded in Homs, a Lebanese official close to Damascus said a defeat for the rebels in Homs would leave the opposition without any major stronghold in Syria, easing the crisis for Dr Assad, who remained confident he could survive.
President Assad, a London-trained eye doctor, is increasingly isolated internationally in his struggle to crush the armed insurrection.
Turkish president Abdullah Gul told Reuters that Russia and Iran would soon realise they had little choice but to join international diplomatic efforts for Dr Assad's removal.
The United Nations says Syrian security forces have killed more than 7,500 civilians since the revolt began last March. Syria's government said in December that "armed terrorists" had killed more than 2,000 soldiers and police during the unrest.
Reuters