Syria starts evacuating civilians from besieged Homs center
Source: Reuters
Syria starts evacuating civilians from besieged Homs center
BY KHALED HARIRI
HOMS, Syria Fri Feb 7, 2014 7:57am EST
(Reuters) - Syria began evacuating civilians from a besieged area of Homs on Friday while Russia announced that Syria's warring parties had agreed a three-day ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid in to those who remain.
The first bus carrying 11 weary-looking evacuees, accompanied by Syrian Arab Red Crescent officials, arrived at a meeting point outside Homs as government soldiers stood by. The aid group expected 200 people to leave.
Another person was brought out by ambulance from the Old City district where activists say 2,500 people have been under siege for more than a year, hungry and malnourished.
Russia said a three-day ceasefire had been agreed in Homs, which was one of the first cities to erupt in protest against President Bashar al-Assad nearly three years ago and where street after street has been destroyed in heavy fighting between Assad's forces and rebels seeking his overthrow.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/07/us-syria-crisis-idUSBREA160V120140207