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Footage posted on YouTube appears to show armed fighters boarding buses in Homs
The evacuation of rebels from their last stronghold in the Syrian city of Homs is under way, activists say.
The first buses left the Old City on Wednesday morning under a deal brokered by the United Nations.
At least two buses have arrived in rebel-held territory to the north, carrying a number of armed fighters.
It marks the end of any rebel presence in the heart of the major city once dubbed the "capital of the revolution" against President Bashar al-Assad.
Earlier this year, about 1,400 people were evacuated from the Old City under an operation overseen by the UN and Red Crescent.
At the scene
The damage to buildings in the Old City, particularly those in the Warsha district, is substantial.
No shots are being fired, but smoke is rising from the Khalidiya, Jib al-Jandali and Bab Houd areas.
Residents said the rebels had set fire to their bases and possessions before heading to the buses.
No journalists were allowed to observe the evacuation of the first batch of rebels and members of their families.
Sources are saying that the operation in Homs is happening in tandem with the delivery of food and medical aid to the besieged towns of Nubul and Zahraa, on the outskirts of the city of Aleppo.
However, a group of fighters and civilians, including many injured, stayed behind despite the increasingly tough conditions.
'World failed us'The BBC's Paul Wood in Beirut says the rebel fighters and their families are sad and bitter as they say goodbye to a place they swore they would never leave.
They buckled finally, our correspondent adds, after two years of siege - the government's forces following a tactic of what some Syrian army officers called "surrender or starve".
The siege of the Old City was tightened in recent months with intense shelling and air strikes.
"The rest of the world failed us," one activist told the BBC by Skype as he prepared for the evacuation.
A video posted online by activists showed a group of fighters, some with their faces covered, walking in a line towards green buses and a white UN 4x4 vehicle, watched by government police officers.
Later, rebel negotiator Abdul Hareth al-Khalidi told the AFP news agency that three buses had left, "carrying 120 people in total, a mixture of wounded and non-wounded civilians and fighters".
Each fighter was reportedly allowed to carry his rifle and a bag of belongings with him. One rocket-propelled-grenade launcher and a machine-gun were also allowed on each bus.
The first group of evacuated fighters arrived soon afterwards at the rebel-held towns of Talbisah and Dar al-Kabrira, about 20km (12 miles) to the north.
Wael, an activist in the nearby village of Tair Maale, said he had received several of the evacuees.
"I asked one of my friends, who is now resting in my house, and he said to me that he felt hungry, and in pain and tearful over leaving Homs," he told AFP. "He said he felt his soul being pulled out of his body as he left Homs."
Battle for Homs
- March 2011: Anti-government protests erupt in Homs within weeks of them beginning in Deraa
- May 2011: Tanks sent into Homs to suppress the dissent; opposition supporters take up arms and oust security forces from several areas
- February-March 2012: Military launches operation designed to crush the resistance in Homs; Baba Amr district subjected to month of relentless bombardment before rebels withdraw
- May 2012: Between 15% and 20% of Homs under opposition control, including Old City
- March 2013: Government launches major offensive to consolidate its control of Homs
- July 2013: Rebels leave Khalidiya district after government assault including Hezbollah fighters
- January 2014: Only Old City still held by rebels; up to 3,000 civilians trapped there, without access to food and medical supplies
- February 2014: UN-Red Crescent operation evacuates 1,400 people from rebel-held areas
- May 2014: Rebel fighters evacuated from Old City
Homs governor Talal al-Barazi told the BBC that the operation was scheduled to end on Wednesday.
He was earlier quoted by the state news agency Sana as saying that an estimated 2,000 people would be evacuated overall, while local activist Abu Yassin al-Homsi told the Associated Press that up to 1,200 fighters were expected to leave.
At the same time, rebels in the north of the country began allowing humanitarian aid into two predominantly Shia Muslim towns loyal to President Assad - Nubul and Zahraa - that they have been besieging.
The deal, which was brokered by the UN and was agreed only after many months of negotiation, will also reportedly see the release of a number of hostages being held by rebels in Aleppo.
Our correspondent says the armed groups within the Old City of Homs were deeply divided about whether to accept a ceasefire.
The al-Nusra Front, which is affiliated to al Qaeda, attempted to break the siege with a series of suicide bombings, but failed.
One more district of Homs is still holding out - al-Wair on the periphery. But our correspondent says fighters there have accepted a ceasefire and will leave, too, as soon as arrangements are made.
More than 150,000 people are believed to have been killed since the uprising against President Assad began in March 2011. Another nine million have fled their homes.
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