Cease-fire in central Syrian city extended

Cease-fire in central Syrian city extended
Fri Feb 14, 2014 10:56:41

The governor of the central Syrian province of Homs says a cease-fire has been extended for three days as of Thursday.

Gov. Talal Barrazi says that as long as there are people who want to leave rebel-held besieged areas in Homs the truce will be extended.

An official at Barrazi's office said there were no evacuations of Homs on Thursday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said evacuations are expected to resume on Friday. It was the second extension since the truce went into effect last week.

Hundreds of civilians have been evacuated from Homs since Friday when a rare cease-fire went into effect.

The cease-fire expired on Wednesday night.

Khaled Erksoussi, the head of operations with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent told The Associated Press that the agency's teams are on stand-by to accompany more people out of the city if the truce is extended. It is unlikely that aid workers will be able to deliver more aid to those still trapped in Old Homs, he said.

BA/BA

string(1051) "[{"id":"1563800","sort":"3166449","contenttypeid":"21","pic":"/2014/02/08/alalam_635274853907282388_25f_4x3.jpg","title":"Syrian forces besiege al-Nusra militants near Homs"} ,{"id":"1563919","sort":"3166448","contenttypeid":"21","pic":"/2014/02/09/alalam_635275346663162079_25f_4x3.jpg","title":"UN to continue aid delivery despite attack in Homs"} ,{"id":"1564092","sort":"3166447","contenttypeid":"21","pic":"/2014/02/09/alalam_635275732917470531_25f_4x3.jpg","title":"400 evacuated from Syria’s Homs despite militants threat"} ,{"id":"1564331","sort":"3166446","contenttypeid":"21","pic":"/2014/02/10/alalam_635276441918446904_25f_4x3.jpg","title":"Six hundred Syrians evacuated from Old Homs"} ,{"id":"1564473","sort":"3166445","contenttypeid":"21","pic":"/2014/02/10/alalam_635276693791740459_25f_4x3.jpg","title":"Homs evacuation operation extended till Wednesday: UN"} ,{"id":"1565226","sort":"3166444","contenttypeid":"21","pic":"/2014/02/13/alalam_635278783171733463_25f_4x3.jpg","title":"Homs evacuations resume as 217 more leave area"} ]"