BEIRUT -- The last remaining insurgent fighters in the Old City of Homs in central Syria began evacuating Wednesday, anti-government activists and state media said, under a deal that would hand the district to the military after two years of blockades and bombardments.
The deal, hammered out between security officials and rebel representatives with the participation of Iran's ambassador to Damascus, was viewed by both sides as a turning point.
Insurgents in Aleppo province, to the north, will lift their long-standing blockade of two villages under the terms of the agreement, activists briefed by rebel negotiators said. If the deal holds, it could be the most complex and far-reaching agreement yet struck between combatants in a three-year conflict that has taken more than 150,000 lives.
About 2,000 people, mainly fighters and their families, were expected to travel to rebel-held areas in northern Homs province in bus convoys escorted by United Nations vehicles, spokesmen for the insurgents said. The deal allowed each fighter to take one bag and his individual light weapons, and one rocket-propelled grenade launcher was permitted per bus.
The government hopes to showcase Homs as evidence that it can settle the conflict through local negotiations, obviating the need for international peace talks ahead of elections in June, which President Bashar Assad is widely expected to win and opponents call a charade. The country's tourism minister even predicted "a prosperous tourist season" for the province.
"It's over, but jihad will continue," one fighter, asking to be identified only by his pseudonym, Abu Bilal, said in a recent interview as the negotiations neared a close. The exodus, he said, was "not the regime's fault -- it was the request of the people and the fighters, because of the world's betrayal."
Homs was one of the first cities to hold large demonstrations against Assad's government in early 2011. Protesters there were among the first to take up arms, and the government first used heavy artillery there, on the Baba Amr neighborhood, in early 2012.
The Old City, a diverse labyrinth of mosques, churches and stone arches overlooked by a medieval citadel, was long controlled by insurgents. In years of intense battle that devastated much of the area, the government retook all but a few neighborhoods, blockading the rest and forcing those inside to subsist on grass and whatever else they could grow.
In February, more than 1,500 people, civilians and some fighters, were evacuated under a short-lived truce, and a small amount of food was allowed in. Some of those who left are still detained in a government shelter, and hundreds more have been released after required security checks.
Many decamped to Waer, the only insurgent-held area remaining in the city, where an estimated 200,000 people displaced from other areas are crammed. Early reports that the deal would include a cease-fire with Waer did not materialize.
Abu Helmi, an activist in Waer, said a small number of Christian civilians who remained throughout the blockade planned to stay, but no Sunnis, underscoring the sectarian divides that have reshaped the city.
The deal carries political risks for the government as well. Pro-government militia members and other core government supporters were angry about the February evacuations, which they said benefited fighters who had shelled and bombed their districts.
In Washington on Wednesday, a key Syrian opposition leader said rebel forces need weapons that could "neutralize" aerial raids by Assad's air force, in order to change the balance of power on the ground and pave the way for a political solution to the crisis.
Ahmad al-Jarba, president of Syria's main opposition bloc, said the war is not about gaining or losing a city, but about the whole conflict, which has lasted more than three years.
Rebels have been asking the U.S. for lethal aid for some time, but the Obama administration has refused, fearing it could fall into the hands of terrorists and other militants who have joined the battle but remain outside the opposition forces.
Al-Jarba, who plans to meet with President Barack Obama during his visit and meets with Secretary of State John Kerry today, thanked the U.S. for its humanitarian aid and political support at the United Nations. He said the Syrian people do not want the U.S. or other countries to send troops or warships, but that opposition forces need weapons that could effectively "neutralize the air force."
He said that even if the opposition completely controlled Homs, no one would be secure because of Assad's air raids. State Department spokesman Jen Psaki would not specifically address al-Jarba's plea for anti-aircraft weapons.
Information for this article was contributed by Anne Barnard, Mohammad Ghannam and Hwaida Saad of The New York Times and by Deb Riechmann of The Associated Press.
A Section on 05/08/2014