More evacuees leave Syria's Homs

By Esref Musa and Burak Karacaoglu

IDLIB, Syria (AA) - A fifth convoy of buses carrying people from the northern countryside of Homs province in western Syria arrived Sunday in Aleppo’s western countryside and Idlib province, according to Anadolu Agency correspondents on the ground.

The convoy of 54 buses, accompanied with 160 civil cars, carried 3,500 from northern Homs as more than 13,500 people have been evacuated so far.

The evacuees will be sheltered in refugee camps, schools and mosques in the two provinces.

On May 2, the Syrian regime and opposition groups agreed to a cease-fire in Homs province’s northern countryside. Under the deal, Russian and regime forces would move into the region while opposition fighters would surrender their heavy weapons.

The agreement also provides opposition fighters with a safe exit from other opposition-held parts of northern Syria.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a vicious conflict that began in 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.