Local Editor

The Syrian forces took full control over the Old City of Homs on Thursday, adding a major victory to the Syrian army ‘s victories.

After holding out for nearly 2 years, around 1,200 militants and trapped civilians boarded buses which took them to militant-held territory outside the city under a deal agreed upon between the militants and the Syrian army, on Wednesday and Thursday.

Homs governor Talal Barazi affirmed to Reuters on Thursday that Homs would be "declared a secure city" and reconstruction would start after the evacuation, notifying that this reconciliation would have never given fruit without the sacrifices of the army and the struggles of the Syrian people.

"Getting the gunmen out of the Old City of Homs will end soon while cases of 50 gunmen were settled yesterday, after they had handed over their weapons to the competent authorities and after a number of adducted persons by the armed terrorist groups, among them women and children, were released," Al-Barazi said.

At the same time as militants were evacuated from Homs, Barazi told state media that 70 people abducted by militants, including five children and 17 women, in the northern provinces of Aleppo and Latakia were freed as part of the same deal.
In Aleppo, militants bombed a once luxurious, historic hotel, leveling the building and causing multiple casualties in a giant explosion carried off by digging tunnels under the complex. The attack was the second carried out by the Islamic Front.
The American senator John McCain has described the withdrawal of foreign-backed militants from the Syrian western city of Homs as a "huge victory" for President Bashar al-Assad.

It creates momentum for Bashar Assad for already ramped up attacks, which are continue to lead up to his quote, election," McCain told Al-Monitor.
Jarba, head of the National Coalition, has said he would ask the U.S. administration for anti-aircraft weapons to battle daily barrel bombings unleashed by Assad and help change the balance militarily on the ground. U.S. officials privately acknowledged he made the request in talks with Kerry at the State Department, but they refused to be drawn on the response.

Earlier, the U.S. stepped up its pressure on Damascus, sanctioning six Syrian officials and a Russian bank for their support of the government.
The U.S Treasury Department said Tempbank, based in Moscow, has provided millions of dollars in cash and has helped facilitate financial services to the government.

Sanctions were also slapped on the bank's senior executive, Mikhail Gagloev, who the U.S. claims has personally traveled to Damascus to make deals with Assad's government.

Source: News Agencies, edited by website team