Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Buses enter Old Homs to evacuate Syrian rebels

The evacuation of Syrian rebels from their last stronghold in the central city of Homs appeared to be getting underway on Wednesday as several buses entered the besieged Old City district to ferry them out, activists said.
The withdrawal of more than 1,000 fighters from Homs is part of a complex deal with President Bashar al-Assad's forces which also involves easing a rebel siege on two northern Shiite Muslim towns loyal to Assad.
It will also mark the end of any rebel presence in the heart of a city once called the "capital of the revolution" against Assad, handing the president a major symbolic victory less than a month before he is likely to be elected for a third term.

A picture uploaded on the Internet showed two green buses driving through the dusty ruins of central Homs towards a collection point for the withdrawing rebel fighters.


Rami Abdelrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighters were expected to leave Homs city for rebel-held areas in northern Homs province.

Their departure would be staged over several phases, coordinated with the evacuation of some residents from Nubl and al-Zahraa in northern Syria, and the entry of humanitarian aid into those two Shiite towns.
More than 150,000 people have died in Syria's civil war. Millions more have fled their homes and the government has lost control of swathes of territory across the north and east.

Fighting regularly kills more than 200 people a day.
Despite the carnage, Syrian authorities have scheduled presidential elections for June 3, a vote likely to give Assad a third term in office. Assad's opponents have dismissed the election as a farce.
Last Update: Wednesday, 7 May 2014 KSA 11:00 - GMT 08:00 
 [alarabiya.net]
7/5/14

1 comment :

  1. Exhausted and worn out from a year-long siege, hundreds of Syrian rebels today (May 7) left their sole remaining bastions in the central city of Homs under a ceasefire deal struck last week with government forces, opposition activists and the city’s governor said....

    The exit of some 1,200 fighters and civilians from rebel strongholds in Homs will mark a de-facto end of the rebellion in the battered city, which was one of the first places to rise up against President Bashar Assad’s rule, earning its nickname as “the capital of the revolution.”

    By early afternoon today, over 200 fighters had boarded two batches of buses that departed from the police command center on the edge of Homs’ rebel-held areas, heading north, opposition activists said. Many of the rebels were wounded and it was unclear how many civilians were among them.

    An activist who goes by the name of Abu Yassin al-Homsi said all fighters and any remaining civilians would leave the city before the end of the day, adding that they would be taken a few kilometres north to the rebel held towns of Talbiseh and al-Dar al-Kabira on the northern edge of Homs province — a short drive away.....................................http://www.todayonline.com/world/middle-east/after-year-long-siege-syria-rebels-leave-homs
    7/5/14

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