1st LD: Rebels start evacuating last stronghold in Syria's Homs

Rebels and their families started evacuating their last stronghold inside the central city of Homs on Thursday, pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV reported.

As many of 42 rebels have already reached the Dar al-Kabira area in the northern countryside of Hama, as part of a deal between the government and the rebels in al-Waer neighborhood, the last rebel-held neighborhood in the city of Homs.

By the end of Thursday, 120 rebels and their families are expected to reach rebel-held Dar al-Kabira, and 140 other rebels will evacuate al-Waer next Saturday toward rebel-held areas in the northwestern province of Idlib.

The governor of Homs, Talal al-Barazi, said the civilians who are evacuating al-Waer are the families of the rebels, and civilians who have nothing to do with rebels will remain inside that neighborhood.

"Today mainly the rebels and their families are leaving," al-Barazi told reporters in Homs. "If a rebel wants to take his mother, his sister or daughter with him, he can do so, but for the civilians who are not related to the rebels, we want them to stay inside al-Waer."

The deal in al-Waer has been conducted between the rebels and the government, without any mediation of the United Nations.

Al-Barazi said that Russia has helped in creating a positive environment for the evacuation process.

The rebels evacuating the neighborhood are allowed to take with them their light weapons.

With al-Waer free of insurgency, the entire city of Homs will be rebel-free, except the countryside, where rebels still hold some key bastions.

Thursday's evacuation represents the second stage in the implementation of a deal reached in 2015 in al-Waer.

In the first stage, nearly 300 rebels evacuated toward Idlib in December 2015. Endit