Syrian rebel groups on Wednesday began clearing out of the strategic city of Homs under a deal that the Washington Post described as “loaded with poignancy for the opposition,” with hundreds of fighters allowed to carry only a single weapon as they boarded buses conveying them to the countryside.
The city is considered one of the “cradle[s]” of the now three year old uprising. Its central location in Syria – it lies along the country’s main highway linking Damascus to the Mediterranean coast – led Agence France-Presse (AFP) to characterize the rebel withdrawal as a “strategic prize” for Assad.
Bloomberg News contextualized the events alongside renewed calls for Western military assistance to rebel elements:
While U.S.-backed Syrian opposition leaders in Washington are lobbying for better weapons, the Syrian government has forced rebels to abandon the city of Homs, a bastion of the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.
Rebel chief Ahmad Jarba announced Tuesday night that he would specifically request anti-aircraft missiles to counter what seems to be a deliberate move by Syrian forces to heighten the use of barrel bombs against rebel-heavy areas. The use of the shrapnel-packed helicopter-deployed IEDs has been criticized as a war crime by Western leaders, but the rebels have not been able to field a battlefield answer to the Syrian Air Force.
The New York Times noted that Jarba’s call came as Assad “appears to have gained the upper hand in the civil war and President Obama has continued to express wariness about becoming more deeply involved.”
Al-Hayat Washington Bureau Chief Joyce Karam on Wednesday conveyed statements from Syrian opposition groups noting that “Assad is still receiving arms from Iran via Iraq[i] airspace.”
The Obama administration this week announced that it was recognizing the main opposition group’s office as a diplomatic foreign mission and increasing its non-lethal assistance by $27 million:
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the representative offices of the coalition would now be considered a “foreign mission” under U.S. law.
She said it was another move aimed at formalizing the relationship between Washington and the coalition, which until now has been represented by liaison offices in Washington and New York.
The change is largely symbolic and does not mean that the United States is now recognizing the opposition as Syria’s government.
“This is not tantamount to recognition of the SOC as the government of Syria,” Harf told a daily briefing. “It’s a reflection of our partnership with the coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.”
The upgrade would also facilitate banking and security services for the opposition in the United States and help it reach out to Syrians living in the United States, Harf added.
[Photo: AFP news agency / YouTube]