Last rebels due to withdraw from Homs

The last rebels were set to leave Syria's battleground city of Homs on Friday, handing a symbolic victory to President Bashar al-Assad in what was once dubbed the capital of the revolution. For two years the rebels fought to keep besieging government forces at bay, but Assad's troops were to cement their control of the city in the bloody civil war that has gripped the country for more than three years. On Thursday, around 1,000 rebels left the Old City of Homs under the unprecedented negotiated evacuation that began a day before, according to figures given to reporters by provincial governor Talal Barazi, according to AFP.