Truce in key Syrian city of Homs goes into effect

 
"... the Homs pact will call for:

1. The withdrawal of rebel and Islamist fighters from Homs neighborhoods under the supervision of regime forces and delegates from the United Nations;

2. The opening by rebel forces of a safe passage for the provision of food and medical aid to the Shiite enclaves of Nubul and Zahraa in the Aleppo countryside, considered to be regime strongholds the rebels have blocked for months;

3. The withdrawal of rebel forces from Homs via the Hama-Homs highway toward Al-Dara Al-Kabira in Homs province's north countryside;

4. The granting of amnesty to 50 fighters who defected from regime forces in Homs' al-Waer neighborhood;

5. The takeover by regime forces of the al-Waer neighborhood in Homs in addition to the entrance and exit into the neighborhoods of Jouret Shiah, Al-Qarabees, Hamidiyeh, Wadi Al-Sayeh and the Old City of Homs;

6. Retreating rebel and Islamist fighters to keep their personal weapons for protection in the event of any breach of the pact."  CNN

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Well, well.  I wonder what Jeff White and the boys at WINEP will have to say about this?  pl 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/07/world/meast/syria-homs-truce/

Comments

[Bandolero]

Turcopolier

I'm not sure what Jeff White & WINEP are going to say about this. But I can say that the Leveretts quote the WSJ saying some interesting words about this. Quote:

One of the more striking things about this story is that, according to the Wall Street Journal, the talks between the Syrian government and opposition fighters that produced this agreement were “brokered by the United Nations and the Iranian Embassy in Damascus.”

Source:

http://goingtotehran.com/with-washingtons-syria-gambit-in-tatters-irans-smart-power-strategy-working

[turcopolier]

bandolero

An interesting story. http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/raymond-ibrahim/christians-crucified-again-for-refusing-islam/

Muslims DO have a penchant for crucifixion the Government of North Yemen crucified several while I lived there thirty years ago. pl

[jon]

This is a welcome development. The terms suggest an opportunity for similar truces and reductions in hostility to occur in other areas, which could lead to a winding down of the conflict. Quite likely not. But it does seem like the initiative and spirit of the Sunnis and their enablers has been broken.

[Farmer Don]

Where are these "Islamist fighters", going to end up??
It's not like the US civil war where the Southern troops went home.
Where is their destination? Are they going to continue to fight?

[turcopolier]

Farmer Don

They are going to heaven. Ask them. pl

[different clue]

If they are permitted to escape, they will go somewhere else to jihadify. Maybe back to Chechnya (hopefully Russia will catch every one) or maybe to Africa . . . Boko Haramistan or Chad's border with CAR or somewhere similar.

[Rd.]

turcopolier said;

Farmer Don

They are going to heaven. Ask them. pl"

Would that heaven be places like Jordan, turkey, KSA, Europe, etcc??? allegedly some video shows them tearing up and burning their passports!! pay back time to their masters??

[David Habakkuk]

Farmer Don,

They may well have got to the point where they have 'no home but the struggle' -- and if this is the case, then it provides a good reason for exterminating them.

[turcopolier]

Rd.

No. Do not doubt for a minute their sincerity. They think that God awaits their arrival in paradise. pl

[turcopolier]

Rd.

You don't seem to understand that these fellows are opposed to the notion of countries. They believe that there should be one world community of believers governed by their version of sharia. pl

[Fred]

Farmer Don,

Like the Spanish civil war these 'Abraham Lincoln Brigade' islamist fighters will go home, which isn't Syria. Saudi Arabia and Turkey are sure to be pleased when the chickens come home to roost.

[Rd.]

Col,

do understand their notion.. burning up their passports is their intend to show their dedication to their jihad.. and now that they are kicked out of Syria, they will return to their 'masters' for pay back. there will be jihadis in jordan, KSA, Eu Turkey.. some where I heard turkey is building a wall!!!! it will be pay back time for those who promoted these liver eating lizards and their ksa promoters.

[turcopolier]

Rd.

"Col, do understand their notion?" No I am an idiot who happens to have spent the last forty years studying these people. I will tell you again. They do not accept the idea of "country." That is what this act is about. If they were focused on returning to their place of origin they would not burn their passports. pl

[Fred]

I stand corrected. See the host's comments below.

[Alba Etie]

Tunde
Should you be quietly keeping tabs on us here at SST , are there any credible reports hat foreign fighters are showing up in Nigeria in support of Boko Harum ?

[Alba Etie]

Col Lang
NPR reported one time yesterday , and not again - that the jihadi fighters from Homs had been detained , and then not seen again , wonder if this is true. And the same NPR "news at the top of the hour " also stated that Al Zawahari had denounced the ISIS and other radical elements in Syria as being too violent against civilians - wonder if that also could be true ?

[turcopolier]

AE

Yes, there has been a minor delay because part of the deal was that rebels around Aleppo would allow re-supply of a numbe of pro-government villages. Yes, Zawahiri is not a fool. p l

[Rd.]

turcopolier said...

Rd.
"They do not accept the idea of "country."

I see the mishap, I am not suggesting they are going back to 'retire' and enjoy life, they want to continue their jihad against whom ever they feel is getting in their way of establishing their caliphate. In that, those countries that sponsored them to begin with, will face a backlash of terrorism.

we can remember our own peace loving man from the 70s, that didn't turn up so well..

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ldFAfbIcygQ/U2e17X5x_9I/AAAAAAAAP9o/FNe9g_2S5Ik/s1600/IMG_0207.JPG

[turcopolier]

Rd.

Yes, but, destroying their passports will make it more difficult to re-enter their countries. pl

[Medicine Man]

Excellent; now just a question of how to expedite the process.