BEIRUT // The Syrian government said it reached a deal with the United Nations yesterday to allow “innocent” civilians to leave the besieged rebel-held old city of Homs, while Al Qaeda rebel groups seized parts of the main jail in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.
The UN yesterday welcomed reports that a humanitarian pause had been agreed for Syria’s besieged city of Homs to allow the evacuation of civilians and for aid to be delivered, a spokesman said.
“The United Nations and humanitarian partners had pre-positioned food, medical and other basic supplies on the outskirts of Homs ready for immediate delivery as soon as the green light was given by the parties for safe passage,” said UN spokesman Farhan Haq.
The government’s announcement of the agreement came hours after rebels declared a new offensive in the northern province of Aleppo, in response to an escalated air assault by government forces trying to recapture territory and drive residents out of opposition-held areas.
In the jail raid heavy clashes between troops loyal to President Bashar Al Assad and members of Jabhat Al Nusra and Ahrar Al Sham erupted after a suicide bomber blew up his car, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Dozens of troops and rebels were killed or wounded, and hundreds of the more than 3,000 inmates were freed, it said. The rebels had been trying to storm the jail for months.
Syria’s state-run Sana news agency, citing an unidentified military official, said the attack on the jail was repelled. There was no way to reconcile the conflicting accounts.
The siege of the old city of Homs has gone on for over a year, and activists say about 2,500 people are trapped inside the area struggling with hunger and malnourishment. They represent only a small fraction of besieged Syrians across the country in desperate need of aid.
“The agreement will allow innocents civilians surrounded in the neighbourhoods of Old Homs — among them women and children, the wounded and the elderly — an opportunity to leave as soon as the necessary arrangements, in addition to offering them humanitarian aid,” said a Syrian foreign ministry statement, cited on Syria TV.
“It will also allow in aid to civilians who choose to stay inside the old city.”
Delegates from Syria’s warring sides met face to face for the first time at the Geneva 2 peace conference last week and were unable to agree anything, even a humanitarian deal for Homs that diplomats had hoped could be a relatively easy first step.
A second round of talks is scheduled for next week.
The government statement did not elaborate on who would be considered “innocent”.
Rebels have rejected similar offers to evacuate women and children in the past because of fear for the fate of any men left behind. Dozens of men disappeared after a similar deal reached in Mouadamiya, west of Damascus.
RIA news agency from Mr Al Assad’s ally Russia quoted an unnamed official at Syria’s Defence Ministry saying rebel fighters were keeping civilians in the area as human shields.
“As for civilians, we are not holding them up or refusing them humanitarian aid but the terrorists are the problem,” it quoted the source as saying. “Terrorists are claiming that there are only civilians in the Old City who need humanitarian aid. In fact, it’s terrorists who are mainly there, including foreign militants, using small groups of civilians held as hostages.”
RIA said the evacuation of civilians and entrance of humanitarian aid were due to start on Friday morning.