Ceasefire in Homs?
May 2, 2014
Syrian opposition activists said on Friday that a ceasefire had been agreed for Homs. There was no immediate comment by Syria's government whose forces began an assault of remaining rebel areas in the city last month.
The central city - Syria's third largest - was once the seat of anti-Assad protest that erupted three years ago. The deal would put all but one neighborhood of Homs back in government control, two months after inconclusive talks in Geneva.
Truce, then withdrawal
The Associated Press news agency quoted several opposition activists as saying the deal first called for a 48-hour truce in rebel-held parts of Homs. After that, hundreds of fighters would withdraw to opposition-held areas north of the city.
The deal was also mentioned by Al-Manar television, a channel run by the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah allied with Assad.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the deal stipulated a "withdrawal of the rebels in the Old City, which has been under siege for two years, to the north of the Homs province."
"As a result of the deal, the army will retake control of these areas," the observatory said.
Face-saving deal
The apparent face-saving deal for the rebels comes weeks after pro-government forces began bombarding Homs.
A previous blockade had already caused widespread food shortages.
In February, an operation by the UN and Red Crescent evacuated around half of the 3,000 residents still trapped in Homs.
Several hundred more subsequently left, leaving a hardcore group of around 1,000 rebel fighters. They allegedly continued to stage car bombings in government-controlled areas.
At least 150,000 people have been killed in the Syrian civil war, which started with peaceful demonstrations, according to opposition activists.
More bombings
Syrian state media said on Friday that suicide bombers using two vehicles had killed at least 18 people, including 11 children, in the towns of Jibrin and Al-Humeiri in the central Syrian province of Hama.
The observatory said the towns targeted were mainly Alawite, the religious community of which Assad is a member.
On Thursday, a government airstrike killed at least 33 people at a busy marketplace in a rebel-held district of the main northern city of Aleppo.
ipj/slk (AP, AFP)