HOMS, Syria — Syria’s government and rebels agreed to a cease-fire Friday in the battleground city of Homs aimed at allowing hundreds of fighters holed up in its old quarters to evacuate, a move that would surrender almost total control of the city once known as the “capital of the revolution” to President Bashar Assad’s forces.
If rebel fighters do leave, the capture of Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, would be a significant victory for Assad, weeks before June 3 presidential elections.
The 48-hour cease-fire deal, reported by opposition activists and a pro-government TV station, came after weeks of unprecedented pounding of rebel-held districts by government forces. In a sign the truce came into effect, an Associated Press team in Homs on Friday said it was unusually quiet, with no shots fired from either side.
Still, the deal could collapse if there are last-minute disputes over the terms of evacuation and some rebels decide to hold out.
One Homs-based opposition activist said it was a bitter moment for the rebels who have been barricaded in 13 neighborhoods around Homs’ historic center.
“This isn’t what we wanted, but it’s all we could get,” Beibars Tilawi told The Associated Press in a Skype interview. “The regime wanted to take control of the heart of the revolution.” Evacuations may start on Saturday, he said.
Residents of Homs, in the central western plains of Syria, were among the first to rise fiercely against Assad’s rule three years ago, earning it the nickname of the “capital of the revolution.” After waves of anti-Assad protests by its residents, rebels seized control of much of the city and Homs quickly became the focus of the worst violence of the uprising, now in its fourth year.
Homs, 80 miles north of Damascus with a pre-war population of around 1.2 million, is particularly important for its centrality. It links the capital with Aleppo in the north — the country’s largest city and another key battleground.
Some rebels and activists in Homs have been negotiating over a truce for at least two months, but the bulk of the rebels refused to agree until the final, violent push of fighting, activists said. United Nations officials oversaw the agreement, according to Tilawi.
U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the organization had officials on the ground trying to make an agreement on Homs. He said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon supports the cease-fire negotiations and has been pushing for an agreement.
Tilawi said the fighters would leave in groups, beginning today. He and other activists cautioned that the deal was extremely fragile.
