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Syrian Government Retakes Homs
4 May 2014
(LPAC)—Syrian rebels agreed to a ceasefire that would allow them to evacuate hundreds of fighters in Homs, yesterday, effectively turning what’s left of the city over to the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. "It will certainly mark a new chapter for the regime, a chapter where it’s regaining control of the country," Ayham Kamel, an analyst with the Eurasia Group in London told AP. The taking of Homs by the government will be seen as a significant setback for the opposition, which was the scene of the first protests against the Assad government in 2011. The ceasefire followed weeks of heavy bombardment of rebel-held neighbourhoods by the government forces and apparently, the rebels decided, with their collapse imminent, to get a safe exit, while the government can claim that it was able to retake the city without further bloodshed. Damascus now controls a swath of territory from the capital to Homs to the coast, but the war rages on in other parts of the country. [Carl Osgood] |