Rebels, civilians leave Old Homs

ON THE ROAD: The UN-supervised rebel evacuation of Old Homs began Wednesday as a convoy of buses with fighters and civilians headed north into rebel-held country.

“Rebels began to leave [Old Homs] from the Khaled Bin Waleed Mosque square,” pro-opposition activists Hassan Abu al-Zein told Syria Direct, adding “convoys of green buses entered the besieged area by way of the Homs-Hama road.”

In the image above, the buses pass the partially-destroyed Khaled bin Waleed Mosque, which became a symbol for anti-government Syrians after 10 unarmed protesters were killed by government forces during a July 2011 funeral procession for a demonstrator shot during a protest.

The evacuation comes five days after rebels and government troops reached a wide-ranging agreement that will give the Syrian government control of Old Homs, once considered the center of the anti-regime protests that began the Syrian conflict.

Photo courtesy of Twitter user @Hsn_KH.

-May 7, 2014

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