Rebels in the city agreed Friday surrender territory in exchange for safe passage to other opposition-held areas. The agreement came after a blockade by Syrian
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Terror of Aleppo ...
's forces caused widespread hunger in rebel-held parts of the city, which have been hit relentlessly by government artillery and
Local activist Samer al-Homsi and other three activists said it wasn't clear why Syrian forces weren't allowing the first phase of several hundred rebel fighters to leave.
One Homs-based activist said rebels were gathering maimed fighters, so they could be taken out as a first priority, beginning Sunday. Other Homs-based activists said they believed the delays were over a plan to allow food and aid into two blockaded areas - one blockaded by rebels in the northern province of Aleppo, and another blockaded by pro-government forces near Homs.
Activists also said a prisoner exchange deal between rebels and Assad's forces in central and northern Syria also could be delaying the move.
Homs was once known as the capital of the Syrian revolution for its fierce opposition to Assad's rule.
Meanwhile Saturday, Syria state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
said rebel mortar fire targeting a government-held neighborhood in Aleppo killed at least 12 people.
Activists also said that the corpse count from two boom-mobiles that struck two small villages in the central Syrian province of Hama has risen to 23 people, including 14 children.
Rami Abdurrahman of the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday that the figure was likely to rise further. The bombs went
kaboom!Friday in the villages of Jadreen and Humayri, some 19 kilometers (11 miles) apart. It wasn't clear if the two attacks were coordinated.
State-run Syrian television also reported the bombings Friday.