A cease-fire was reached between Syria and the mercenaries who occupy the Old City of Homs allowing for its evacuation and leading to the total liberation of the city.
A thousand fighters will be free to leave the center of Homs with their families, keeping their personal weapon. They will also be able to take away their personal belongings and be transported to Turkey in a bus with tinted windows, under police escort. The injured, if they agree, will be transported in ambulances Syrian Red Crescent. Before leaving, however, the fighters must hand over a map of the mines they planted.
This agreement is reminiscent of the one reached in February 2012 between Syria and France for the evacuation of the Islamic Emirate of Baba Amr. At that time, about 3,000 fighters and a group of civilian supporters were besieged in the neighborhood of Baba Amr, where they had proclaimed an Islamic Emirate and scared the population away after slitting the throats of more than 150 people for not observing Sharia law. The combatants were supervised by twenty French officers.
An agreement was first reached between Assef Chaawkat and Claude Guéant for their surrender and evacuation. It was followed by a peace accord between the two countries, the turn over of remaining French military prisoners at the Lebanese border and the Geneva 1 Conference. However, this agreement was ultimately breached by the new French president, François Hollande.
In the present case, it is unclear which foreign state has been designated to supervise the mercenaries. In any case, the agreement was negotiated through Iran. It also provides for the release of 70 hostages held by the Islamists and the liberation of two Shiite villages.
During the Geneva negotiations, representatives of the pro-Saudi opposition had listed as a priority the lifting of the siege of the Old Homs area, suggesting that soldiers from NATO countries might be stationed there.
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