Eighty-three civilians were evacuated in Syria who lived under government siege in the devastated city of Homs for a year and a half after talks which began two weeks ago to try to end the country's civil war began yielding results, the Associated Press reported.
Many of the evacuees looked malnourished according to the World Food Programme, the AP reported. Buses with dozens of evacuees were accompanied by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to a meeting point outside Homs where aid workers awaited.
The move was the opening step in the peace talks, which resume on Monday in Geneva with little prospect of resolving core grievances of a conflict which has killed 130,000 people, the AP reported.
The Homs deal states women, children and old men were allowed to leave the Old City, according to the AP
"The United Nations can confirm that 83 people were evacuated from Old Homs City today," said U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq, according to the AP. "The people - women, children and the elderly - were then delivered to places of their choice, escorted by United Nations and Syrian Arab Red Crescent staff."
The WFP said it had trucks ready to take a month's supply of food on Saturday to an estimated 2,500 people trapped in the rebel-held heart of the city, the AP reported
Syrian authorities had announced that evacuees would be given medical treatment and shelter, and that residents of Old Homs who prefer to remain will be sent humanitarian aid, according to the AP.
According to Western officials, Syria has an unconditional obligation to civilians trapped by conflict and argued the issue should not have required weeks of negotiation to allow aid to enter, the AP reported
Until now rebels have denied any type of evacuation offer to evacuate women and children in the past because of concerns about what might happen to any men, including fighters, who are left behind, according to the AP. Dozens of men were detained and disappeared after a similar deal made last year in Mouadamiya, west of Damascus.
