Militants begin leaving last bastion in Syria’s Homs

Another Shia scholar taken into illegal custody by CTD Punjab police
Two buses left Homs’ al-Waer district on Saturday morning, carrying the militants and their families to the city of Jarablus, which is held by Turkish-backed militants.

Homs’ governor Talal al-Barazi said the Saturday evacuation included some 1,500 people, among them at least 400 militants.

Barazi said that Russian and Syrian forces were overseeing the process and that the full evacuation from al-Waer would take about six weeks.

“The preparations and the reality on the ground indicate that things will go well,” he added.

Under a reconciliation agreement signed between the Syrian army and the militants on Monday, between 10,000 and 15,000 people would leave al-Waer over the coming weeks, according to the so-called Homs Media Center.