The rebels and their families are being moved to murderous Moslem-held areas of the northwest near the Turkish border under the deal, an example of the type of local truce U.S. President Barack Obama
Jedi mind meld...
has said could happen in Syria more frequently.
Homs was a centre of the uprising against
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now...
. The deal follows a major Syrian army ground offensive to the north of the city backed by Russian air strikes.
Witnesses saw 15 buses leave the area. Homs governor Talal al-Barazi told news hounds 300 fighters were on board, together with 400 members of their families. The fighters took with them light weapons, he said.
The deal echoes a local ceasefire agreed in September elsewhere in Syria under which rebel fighters were supposed to be transferred to Idlib, though it has yet to be fully implemented.
Several buses left the Homs district of Waer early on Wednesday and others were queueing up to leave on its outskirts, witnesses said. Children on buses waiting to leave peaked around the drawn curtains and aid workers handed out juice.
Barazi said the buses would make a stop in Hama province where rebels who wished to could disembark, before continuing to Idlib, a province that is a stronghold of
He described the rebels who left as "murderous Moslems who reject the agreement", saying they would leave with their families.
"The Waer neighborhood arrangements will be completely safe and there will be no weapons in Waer after the implementation of the agreement," he said adding security forces would go back to work in the area and would be the only ones armed.