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| An Explosion and a Blockade, and a Syrian Pact Is in Limbo | An Explosion and a Blockade, and a Syrian Pact Is in Limbo |
| (4 months later) | |
| BEIRUT, Lebanon — A deal to evacuate insurgents from the Old City of Homs in central Syria hit a snag on Thursday when rebels in Aleppo Province refused to allow all of a humanitarian convoy to enter two villages they had blockaded, as called for under a pact between the government and the rebels, opposition activists and a pro-government television channel reported. | |
| The problems came as insurgents in the northern city of Aleppo set off an enormous explosion that leveled the historic Carlton Hotel, facing the city’s ancient citadel, where government troops had been billeted. Clouds of dust and debris towered above the citadel’s ramparts, underscoring the insurgents’ vow to continue the fight and their ability to carry out damaging attacks despite retreating from Homs. | The problems came as insurgents in the northern city of Aleppo set off an enormous explosion that leveled the historic Carlton Hotel, facing the city’s ancient citadel, where government troops had been billeted. Clouds of dust and debris towered above the citadel’s ramparts, underscoring the insurgents’ vow to continue the fight and their ability to carry out damaging attacks despite retreating from Homs. |
| The Islamic Front, the insurgent coalition that claimed responsibility for the blast, also controls territory where the aid convoys were blocked from entering the villages of Nubol and Zahra. Its members are among those who have objected to the deal on the grounds that rebels should make no compromise with the government. | The Islamic Front, the insurgent coalition that claimed responsibility for the blast, also controls territory where the aid convoys were blocked from entering the villages of Nubol and Zahra. Its members are among those who have objected to the deal on the grounds that rebels should make no compromise with the government. |
| The government was preventing the last busload of fighters from leaving Homs’s Old City until the aid was allowed to reach the villages, the Lebanese television channel Al Mayadeen reported, leaving the completion of the deal in limbo. Several hundred fighters remained in the Old City after nearly 1,000 left on Wednesday for insurgent-held areas in northern Homs Province. Scores of prisoners and hostages held by rebels in Aleppo and Latakia Provinces have been released. | The government was preventing the last busload of fighters from leaving Homs’s Old City until the aid was allowed to reach the villages, the Lebanese television channel Al Mayadeen reported, leaving the completion of the deal in limbo. Several hundred fighters remained in the Old City after nearly 1,000 left on Wednesday for insurgent-held areas in northern Homs Province. Scores of prisoners and hostages held by rebels in Aleppo and Latakia Provinces have been released. |
| The problems on Thursday highlighted the challenges of carrying out a deal that requires cooperation from far-flung, disconnected insurgent groups. The accord, which provides for rebels to leave the blockaded Old City with their weapons and hand over the symbolic territory to the government, has been seen as a turning point for both sides after a nearly two-year standoff that has reduced fighters and civilians in the center of Homs, once called the “city of the revolution,” to eating grass. | The problems on Thursday highlighted the challenges of carrying out a deal that requires cooperation from far-flung, disconnected insurgent groups. The accord, which provides for rebels to leave the blockaded Old City with their weapons and hand over the symbolic territory to the government, has been seen as a turning point for both sides after a nearly two-year standoff that has reduced fighters and civilians in the center of Homs, once called the “city of the revolution,” to eating grass. |
| Despite the hitches, several more busloads of rebels arrived in northern Homs and could be seen, in videos posted online, smiling and hugging in apparent relief. The governor, Talal Barazi, toured a damaged square just outside the Old City with television cameras, vowing against a backdrop of blackened buildings, “When the armed men leave the Old City of Homs, we will rebuild the city in no time.” | Despite the hitches, several more busloads of rebels arrived in northern Homs and could be seen, in videos posted online, smiling and hugging in apparent relief. The governor, Talal Barazi, toured a damaged square just outside the Old City with television cameras, vowing against a backdrop of blackened buildings, “When the armed men leave the Old City of Homs, we will rebuild the city in no time.” |
| Mr. Barazi did not address the presence of increasingly pro-government militias, some of whose members have expressed anger at anything short of total defeat for the insurgents. He said that a similar evacuation deal was in the works for the last rebel-held neighborhood in Homs, Hay al-Waer, an area of high-rises on the city’s outskirts. Some 200,000 people in the neighborhood, half of them displaced from elsewhere, remain under a government blockade and shelling. | Mr. Barazi did not address the presence of increasingly pro-government militias, some of whose members have expressed anger at anything short of total defeat for the insurgents. He said that a similar evacuation deal was in the works for the last rebel-held neighborhood in Homs, Hay al-Waer, an area of high-rises on the city’s outskirts. Some 200,000 people in the neighborhood, half of them displaced from elsewhere, remain under a government blockade and shelling. |
| Saying a process of reconciliation was underway, Mr. Barazi and state television correspondents were careful to describe those departing as gunmen or fighters, not terrorists, as official news media have typically called the entire armed opposition. | Saying a process of reconciliation was underway, Mr. Barazi and state television correspondents were careful to describe those departing as gunmen or fighters, not terrorists, as official news media have typically called the entire armed opposition. |
| With Mr. Barazi on state television was Yacoub El Hillo, the senior United Nations official in Syria, who praised the deal as a way of calming the conflict. United Nations vehicles accompanied the departing insurgents and the aid convoy, along with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. | With Mr. Barazi on state television was Yacoub El Hillo, the senior United Nations official in Syria, who praised the deal as a way of calming the conflict. United Nations vehicles accompanied the departing insurgents and the aid convoy, along with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. |
| Ahmad al-Ali, a member of a local government committee in Homs, told state television: “We won. We are standing here in the heart of Homs, and all the unwanted are leaving the town.” | Ahmad al-Ali, a member of a local government committee in Homs, told state television: “We won. We are standing here in the heart of Homs, and all the unwanted are leaving the town.” |
| Some opponents of the government have described the deal as a way of pushing people opposed to President Bashar al-Assad, disproportionately Sunni Muslims, out of Homs, and have expressed concern that the demographic makeup of the diverse city, Syria’s third largest, is being altered. | Some opponents of the government have described the deal as a way of pushing people opposed to President Bashar al-Assad, disproportionately Sunni Muslims, out of Homs, and have expressed concern that the demographic makeup of the diverse city, Syria’s third largest, is being altered. |
| It was unclear why the convoy to the Aleppo villages had failed. Some reports said that insurgents had wanted to allow in only a few trucks, but that the government had refused to let the convoy go farther unless all 12 trucks were allowed. | It was unclear why the convoy to the Aleppo villages had failed. Some reports said that insurgents had wanted to allow in only a few trucks, but that the government had refused to let the convoy go farther unless all 12 trucks were allowed. |
| Jamal Awad, a local official from Zahra who fled to a Damascus suburb, said in a telephone interview that the first truck had been stopped by insurgents, emptied and forced to go back. “Our men in the village were watching what was happening” through binoculars, he said. “They saw the armed group quarreling.” | Jamal Awad, a local official from Zahra who fled to a Damascus suburb, said in a telephone interview that the first truck had been stopped by insurgents, emptied and forced to go back. “Our men in the village were watching what was happening” through binoculars, he said. “They saw the armed group quarreling.” |
| But in an indication that other aspects of the deal were moving forward, Mr. Awad said insurgents had released 13 of the 63 civilians abducted from a bus months ago. | But in an indication that other aspects of the deal were moving forward, Mr. Awad said insurgents had released 13 of the 63 civilians abducted from a bus months ago. |
| State television said that insurgents had freed at least 40 women and children in Latakia Province after killing numerous civilians there last year in villages populated by the Alawite minority, to which Mr. Assad belongs. The massacre was documented by Human Rights Watch. | State television said that insurgents had freed at least 40 women and children in Latakia Province after killing numerous civilians there last year in villages populated by the Alawite minority, to which Mr. Assad belongs. The massacre was documented by Human Rights Watch. |
| In Aleppo, the Islamic Front declared that the attack on the hotel, by fighters who tunneled underneath it, had killed 50 soldiers and was a response to the indiscriminate bombing that has killed hundreds of civilians in the province in recent months. The front, an Islamist coalition that includes many groups that broke off from the Western-backed Free Syrian Army, said the attack was a prelude to a “large-scale operation” meant to secure territorial gains. | In Aleppo, the Islamic Front declared that the attack on the hotel, by fighters who tunneled underneath it, had killed 50 soldiers and was a response to the indiscriminate bombing that has killed hundreds of civilians in the province in recent months. The front, an Islamist coalition that includes many groups that broke off from the Western-backed Free Syrian Army, said the attack was a prelude to a “large-scale operation” meant to secure territorial gains. |
| A state television reporter was shown in front of what was left of the hotel: a hill of large stone blocks where just the tops of palm trees, which once stood in the hotel courtyard, poked through. He said that soldiers had been posted there but that there was no sign of rescue activity. SANA, the state news agency, did not mention casualties, but said that the “enormous attack” had destroyed historical sites and that explosives had been detonated “under archaeological buildings.” | A state television reporter was shown in front of what was left of the hotel: a hill of large stone blocks where just the tops of palm trees, which once stood in the hotel courtyard, poked through. He said that soldiers had been posted there but that there was no sign of rescue activity. SANA, the state news agency, did not mention casualties, but said that the “enormous attack” had destroyed historical sites and that explosives had been detonated “under archaeological buildings.” |
| The Carlton was built as a hospital in the era of Ottoman rule before World War I. According to residents, government forces had lived there for two years, using it as a base for sniper and mortar attacks and to hold positions in the citadel. Insurgents, too, operate in Aleppo’s sprawling medieval Old City, drawing government bombardment that has severely damaged the area. The United Nations has called on all sides to stop bombing historic sites and using them as bases. | The Carlton was built as a hospital in the era of Ottoman rule before World War I. According to residents, government forces had lived there for two years, using it as a base for sniper and mortar attacks and to hold positions in the citadel. Insurgents, too, operate in Aleppo’s sprawling medieval Old City, drawing government bombardment that has severely damaged the area. The United Nations has called on all sides to stop bombing historic sites and using them as bases. |
| The tactic of tunneling under opponents’ fortifications has a nearly 900-year pedigree in Aleppo: When Crusaders besieged a Muslim-held castle there in 1131, the premature collapse of a siege tunnel killed their leader, Count Joscelin I of Edessa. | The tactic of tunneling under opponents’ fortifications has a nearly 900-year pedigree in Aleppo: When Crusaders besieged a Muslim-held castle there in 1131, the premature collapse of a siege tunnel killed their leader, Count Joscelin I of Edessa. |
| In video images posted on YouTube, the Islamic Front showed what it said was a similar attack this week on a government outpost in Idlib, southwest of Aleppo. The images showed a huge blast in which the group said 35 government soldiers had died. | In video images posted on YouTube, the Islamic Front showed what it said was a similar attack this week on a government outpost in Idlib, southwest of Aleppo. The images showed a huge blast in which the group said 35 government soldiers had died. |