BEIRUT ( AP) — The Red Cross dispatched an aid convoy to an embattled neighborhood in the Syrian city of Homs today, and the U.N. said it was alarmed by reports of execution-style killings after the Syrian army seized the area from rebel forces.

The seizure of Baba Amr by the Syrian army was a blow to the rebels seeking to overthrow the regime of authoritarian President Bashar Assad. The central city of Homs, Syria’s third largest, has emerged as a key battleground in the 11-monthold anti-Assad uprisings.

Before government forces stormed the area Thursday, it had been under a tight siege and daily shelling for nearly four weeks. Activists said hundreds were killed and many lived for days with little food and no electricity or running water.

A spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said today the agency had received unconfirmed reports of “a particularly grisly set of summary executions” involving 17 people in the area after government forces entered.

Rupert Colville did not provide details but said his office was seeking to confirm the reports and called on both government and rebel forces to refrain from all forms of reprisal.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it sent a convoy of aid trucks to Baba Amr from the capital Damascus early today after getting permission from the government.

Khalid Arqsouseh, a spokesman for the Syrian Red Crescent in Homs, said the seven 15-ton trucks were carrying food, milk powder, medical supplies and blankets. They were expected to reach the area early this afternoon, despite snow along the route.