Ceasefire to allow Syrian rebels to flee Homs

Syrian authorities and rebel fighters agreed to a 24-hour ceasefire in the Old City district of Homs on Friday to allow besieged rebels to pull out of their last stronghold in the central Syrian city, television stations said.

A final rebel withdrawal from the city once dubbed the “capital of the revolution” would mark a significant and symbolic military advance by pro-government forces.

Government troops, backed by fighters from Lebanon’s Hezbollah, have pushed back the rebels and foreign jihadists from around Damascus and central Syria over the last year.

Central Homs was evacuated of hundreds of civilians in early February during a humanitarian ceasefire overseen by the United Nations and Red Crescent. Food and medicines were also allowed into the besieged area.

Many rebel fighters stayed on. But outgunned and surrounded, they have little prospect of holding out in the long term.

Hezbollah’s Al Manar Television and regional broadcaster said fighting stopped at around noon when the ceasefire came into effect, and that rebel fighters would be allowed to head north out of the center of the city.