Syria’s foreign minister has accused America of trying to create a “negative climate” at the second round of peace talks as US secretary of state John Kerry blamed “the Assad regime’s obstruction” for making the tense dialogue even more difficult.

Two trucks carrying food and medical supplies into rebel-held neighbourhoods in the central Syrian city of Homs turned back under heavy fire, leaving four paramedics wounded as a ceasefire faltered.

Tense negotiations between the Syrian government and opposition focused on the transfer of power and helping besieged parts of the central city of Homs as they entered their fifth day.

Four of the seven hostages from the International Committee of the Red Cross kidnapped in Syria have been freed.

Air strikes on Syria could have “catastrophic effects” on the desperate humanitarian crisis in the region, a charity has warned.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was still seeking a formal Syrian response to its request for urgent access to the besieged town of Qusair after a minister said aid efforts should wait until the fighting was over.

The failure to resolve the conflict cannot excuse the lack of humanitarian response, writes Jane-Ann McKenna

The United Nations has ordered all of its non-essential international staff to leave Syria, saying the escalating violence is making it more risky for humanitarian workers to do their jobs.

Government warplanes bombed a town in northern Syria today, killing at least 18 people, activists said, while the new UN envoy to the country acknowledged that brokering an end to the nation’s civil war will be a “very, very difficult” task.

The International Committee of the Red Cross is moving some of its foreign staff out of the Syrian capital to neighbouring Lebanon.

Aid teams will try to evacuate wounded and sick civilians and those who want to leave rebel-held areas in the embattled Syrian city of Homs today, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has revealed three aid workers suffered minor injuries in Syria when an explosion hit their convoy.

A wounded Western journalist working for The Sunday Times escaped from Syria after being trapped for days in the besieged city of Homs, activist groups said.

The UN’s human rights chief said today the situation in Syria had deteriorated rapidly in recent weeks and demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

Red Cross teams have reached the Syrian city of Hama for the first time in more than a month, delivering aid to a populace battered by the military crackdown on the anti-government uprising.

The head of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent branch in the northern town of Idlib has been shot dead, the International Committee of the Red Cross says.