- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Damaged But Free: Peace Returns to Liberated District in Homs (VIDEO)

© AFP 2023 / MAHMOUD TAHAOpposition fighters and their families gather as they prepare to board a bus, ahead of their evacuation from the rebel-held Waer neighbourhood in the central city of Homs on March 18, 2017
Opposition fighters and their families gather as they prepare to board a bus, ahead of their evacuation from the rebel-held Waer neighbourhood in the central city of Homs on March 18, 2017 - Sputnik International
Subscribe
On May 22, the last group of militants and their family members withdrew from the district of Al Waer in Syria's Homs within 24 hours, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the city. The third largest city of Syria is now completely under the control of Syrian government forces.

The director of technical services of Homs, Amin al Is, told Sputnik Arabic that currently the area is recovering at a rapid pace.

“Various government technical services have arrived to the district. They have been sorting out the rubble for several days now. First of all they are dismantling barricades, blocked roads and earth embankments,” Al Is said.

Sunday saw the complete withdrawal of militants from the western Syrian city of Homs - Sputnik International
Homs Sweet Homs: Why the Liberation of One of Syria's Biggest Cities Matters
He further said that the road repair services have already cleared 10 km of road and the main streets have also been cleared.

The demolition of electric grids is estimated at 4 billion Syrian liras. About 30 transformers have been completely destroyed and some 40 are damaged.

The damage to telephone lines has not yet been calculated but it is known that in the quarter of al-Waer, there were some 25,000 registered subscribers.

However, the liberated city is well preserved. Almost all buildings stood intact and lights could be seen through some windows.

The video shows that there are currently many teams of construction workers in the city, who are putting things in order. In the evening people are seen walking around holding Syrian flags.

Earlier, it was reported by a Sputnik journalist present on the ground that the governor ordered the central square to be illuminated for the upcoming celebrations.

Stadium-type floodlights had shone brightly and it appeared that local residents did not know how to express their happiness. Children ran around while adults both cried and smiled in one common scene of victory and new hopes.

Since late 2011, residents of Homs experienced one of the most terrifying episodes of the Syrian civil war. After the armed conflict flared up, terrorists, chanting revolutionary slogans and preaching Salafism, entered villages around Homs and massacred members of other religious denominations.

People in central Homs also feared for their lives. The militants set up illegal roadblocks, abducted people and executed them on the central square. All this became a regular feature of everyday life for residents of Syria’s third-largest city.

The completely demolished blocks of flats in Old Homs, where not a single building remains intact and where some structures have turned into rubble, shows the scale of local hostilities.

Back in 2014, the first successful deal was implemented here under the state program of national reconciliation, with 1,500 militants leaving central Homs. At that time, local authorities started a countdown in the hope that the city would be completely liberated from terrorists.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала